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^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. , 



AN ESSAY 



DOCTRINE AND ORDER 



Ctoangelical Cfturcf) of America ; 



CONSTITUTED AT BALTIMORE IN 1734, 

UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF THE 



Rev. John Wesley , A. M. 
Rev Thomas Coke, LL. D. 
Rev. W. F. Oterbine, D. D. 

Principal of the German Re- 
formed Collegiate Church in 
America. 
Rev. F. Asbury, V. D. M. 



Rev. Martin Bcehm, 
A Bishop of the Menonists. 

Txco Presbyters 
From the British Conference, 
and 

Sixty Itinerant PreacJiers, 
Raised in the United States. 



BY WILLIAM PHCEBUS, M. D 

ONE OF SAID ITINERANT PREACHERS. 

D.rns un noble projet, on tombe noblemen'. 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY ABRAHAM PAUL, 
182 WATER-STREET. 

1817. 



hW» LIBRARY! 

JO* CONGRESit 

WASHINGTON] 



-#£ 



& 



-?** 



Southern District of New- York, ss. 

BE IT REMEMBERED, that od the twenty-sixth day of April, 
in tie fortieth year of the Independence of the United States 
of America, William Phoebus, of the said district, hath deposit- 
ed in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims 
as Author, in the words following, to wit : 

M An Essay on the Doctrine and Order of the Evangelical Church 
of America; as constituted at Baltimore in 1784, under the pa- 
tronage of the Rev. John Wesley, A M. Rev Thomas Coke, 
LL D Rev. W. F Oter^ine, D D Principal of the German 
Reformed Collegiate Church in America Rev. F Asbury, V. 
D M Rev Vlartin Boshm, A Bishop of the Menonists Two 
Presbyters from the British Conference, and Sixty Itinerant 
Preachers, raised in the United States. By William Phoebus, 
M D one of said Itinerant Preachers. Dans un noble projet, 
on tombe noDlement." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, 
entitled " an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing 
the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and proprie- 
tors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And 
also to an Act, entitled " an Act, supplementary to an Act, 
entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing 
the copies of Maps. Charts, and Books to the authors and propri- 
etors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and ex- 
tending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, 
and etching historical and other prints " 

THERON RUDD, 
CUrk nf the Southern District of !Yerv~Yo7k. 



PREFACE. 



WHEN I commenced this little work, it was 
my design only to support from scriptural an- 
tiquity the particular doctrines and order of our 
church ; because I felt most sensible that it 
was made too light of by professors of other 
denominations, to our great injury and impedi- 
ment. But I did not then perceive that the at- 
tack was made boldly on the general creed and 
foundation of the church of Christ, as I now 
do. If the foundation be destroyed, what will 
the righteous do ? I find that many grow bold 
by little and little. As the rude and savage 
people, who took Rome, at first sight of the 
senate, were struck with their venerable ap- 
pearance, till one ventured to stroke and 
play with their beards ; after that they proceed- 
ed farther ; and finally killed those they at fir9t 
took to be gods. So sinners begin with sport- 



IV PREFACE. 

ing at particular doctrines, and particular scrip- 
tural discipline, till they venture to strike at 
general doctrines, and contemn all orders, 
speaking against dignities. 

For these reasons, I altered my plan, from a 
special to a general defence of the Christian's 
faith, from scripture and antiquity. Not only 
to correct the false accusation of that sage 
Doctor, who said, " the Methodists* were the 
most wanton sect of schismatics that ever dis- 
graced the Christian church ;" and the asper- 
sions of those who call them Arminians, Arians, 
Fanatics, and a dangerous people ; but of such 
also as venture to deny the first, second, and 
third articles of our holy religion, and even 
the Lord who bought them. 

* The name Methodist was innocently introduced in 
Oxford college. That seminary had rules for matricu- 
lation, called the Method, which every student was 
obliged to subscribe, for order sake; since, by the 
professors, were held as mere form ; such as fasting 
twice a week, communing every sabbath, and continuing 
to attend prayer daily. Some young men in class with 
John Wesley attended to the old rule, called Method. 
It was persecuted into fame, by the expulsion of six 
young men, for holding Methodistical tenets. See a 
pamphlet called the Shaver. 



PREFACE. V 

I have made extracts from books of antiqui- 
ty ; they being rare, and not in the hands of 
many on this new continent. It must be ac- 
knowledged by all who are acquainted with 
those excellent works put forth by our English 
divines of the last two centuries, that they had 
great insight in the sacred scriptures, and the 
ancient fathers. From those valuable sources 
John Wesley obtained much of his Christian 
Library, fitly so called ; being a complete body 
of divinity : I may say, asked for, and recom- 
mended, a century before it took its present 
form, by many characters truly excellent. Lord 
Verulam said, " If the choicest and best ob- 
servations which have been made, dispersedly 
in our English sermons, &c. (leaving out the 
largeness of exhortations and applications there- 
upon) were set down in a continuance, it would 
be the best work of divinity that hath been 
written since the apostles' times." Again, 
Hackwell's Apology, lib. iii. chap. 7. sec. 2. 
11 The sermons of this latter age, especially in 
this land, [England] have doubtless been more 
exquisite and effectual, than ordinarily they 
1* 



Vi PREFACE. 

have been in preceding ages ; insomuch, it 
hath been observed, that if there were a 
choice collection of the most accurate, since 
the entrance of Queen Elizabeth to the pre- 
sent times, omitting the largeness of applica- 
tion thereupon, it would prove one of the 
rarest pieces of divinity that has been published 
since the apostles' days." 

Ambrose also expressed the same desire. 
" Indeed, had we such a book extant, I would 
advise the Christians of our age to buy the 
Bible and that book, and study them, and no 
mare, as to their spiritual good. But, alas ! 
this book is rather wished for, than hoped af- 
ter ; we may expect it, and wait for it, till 
our eyes sink in our heads, and never be the 
nearer." 

These excellent men perceived the possi- 
bility of such a work being extracted from the 
publications already in the hands of a few, as 
containing truths necessary to be experienced 
and practised ; but mixed with crude indigesti- 
ble matter, which needed skill and patience to 
separate ; which required also an unfettered 



I'RKFACE. vii 

mind, and an independent spirit, above the re- 
proaches of prejudice. For with men in com- 
mon, every thing goeth by weight and mea- 
sure ; and sermons are accounted of by length, 
and books by size. Under a long discourse, 
the dull man nods ; so large volumes set out a 
book-case. And many may say, when he points 
to his books, " there is my faith, my repent- 
ance, my obedience, my religion." 

Voluminous works contain, very often, bur- 
dens of tares, and some wheat. As Bishop 
Burnet said of the Church of England, " In all 
our reforming, we want a reform." And Ro- 
bertson, in his sermon to the Puritans in Ley- 
den, "lam very confident that God has yet 
more truth to break forth from his holy word. 
Be ready to receive whatever truth may be 
made known to you from his holy word." 

Wesley dared descend the steep, and risk his 
all to collect those unfashionable truths, and 
publish them to the world. To strike out a 
reform for reformers, in doctrine, in discipline,, 
in orders. 



? iji PREFACE. 

In these United States, famed through all 
the world, for equal laws ; famed also for apos- 
tolic doctrine, apostolic men, and apostolic 
measures, we have not followed a cunningly 
devised fable, while we made known the glory 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

w. r 



AN ESSAY, $c. 



To the elect of God, the adorable Redeemer 
gave peace, and commanded his apostles to 
say, to every house they should enter, Peace 
be to all who dwell in it ; that, if worthy, peace 
should abide there. This bequest is the trea- 
sure of the church, which is the salt of the 
earth, the light of the world, the glory of God 
on earth, and the joy of angels in heaven. 

In the all-prevailing name of Christ, and, 
I trust, guided by his grace, I give to my 
children and beloved brethren in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in America, this book, as a 
guide to Him who is the way, the truth, and 
the life. His kingdom is an everlasting king- 
dom, and his rule from generation to genera- 
tion ; by the decree of the Eternal Trinity in 
Unity. 

From the going forth of this decree, the op- 
posers of good have sought, by force or fraud, 
to turn aside those purposes ; at least so far as 



10 

they related to man's obedience and fruition 
in Jesus Christ. 

Fraud is guile ; guile, false appearances, 
and false assertions, first practised by an evil 
spirit from prison, from hell ; to the great dis- 
tress of those on whom it was practised, Gen. 
iii. 4. " 77ie Serpent, {that is, the devil,) said 
unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die : For God 
doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then 
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as 
gods, knowing good and evil" 

These two things have been practised 
on mankind in all ages ; namely, false appear- 
ances, and false teaching ; to give false ideas to 
man, and darken counsel with words ; to spread 
satanic infection over the mind; to join in 
league to put darkness for light ; darkness be- 
ing congenial to the growth of pride ; congenial 
to Deism and Atheism, so to be heady, high- 
minded, lovers of pleasure more than God. 

Yea, a perfect independence is by the false 
teacher purposed ; be as gods, knowing good 
and evil; that is, all-knowing is comprehended 
in that ; and if all men were wise, and equal to 
all wisdom in themselves, what need of a teach- 
er, of a patron, or ruler, when no rule would 
be necessary ? Why a law ? why a judge ? 
why a judgment-day ? If man could be so de 



11 

ceived, as to believe himself equal to all other 
beings, he must deny all the sacred Scriptures, 
and all dependence on God ; yea, must attri- 
bute all to chance ; and so be without God in 
the world ; so a very Atheist in every sense of 
the word ; or, what is worse, to believe God to 
be inconstant and cruel ; a hard master, re- 
quiring needless strictness, or impossibilities. 

But the true state of man is, he is born as 
the wild ass's colt ; he hath by nature no in- 
tuitive knowledge ; it must be obtained from 
things not in himself; from instruction all his 
information must come. Not a single idea but 
by presentation or revelation. It followeth, as 
a certain fact, that all are gone out of the 
way ; there is none that doeth good, no, not 
one. And that the confused ideas that the na- 
tions have of a Supreme Being, are derived 
from revelation ; and that corrupt and wicked 
minds having misapplied the truth, to the 
great distress of men, and to the dishonour of 
his righteous cause on earth ; to break the 
bonds, and castaway the cords by which our 
glorious God would bind us to himself. Our 
first straying from our heavenly Parent was 
through false presentation ; a serpent, or 
seraph,*" was the form the enemy took ! The 

* A usurper of the divine image from the beginning. 
Bishop Patrick. 



12 

language of kindness was that with which he 
covered his malice and envy ! Christ came to 
seek and to save that which was lost. The means 
to accomplish this desirable end, are true re- 
presentations ; and truth revealed by the re- 
velation of Jesus Christ from heaven to man ; 
which may be considered the first and the last, 
the beginning and the end ; the first, the seed 
of the woman shall bruise thy head, Gen. iii. 15. 
I come quickly, Amen, Rev. xxii. 8, 

To set this forth to man, God has 
been pleased to use Emblems, Oracles, Types, 
and Prophets. God, manifested in the flesh, 
established the truth, and perpetuates it 
in the world, from generation to generation* 
The heavens declare the glory of God, and 
the firmament showeth forth his handy work. 
By the help of revelation only they are made 
to speak forth his praise. 

Men, undertaking to know the hidden mean- 
ing, independently of God's method, have gone 
astray from the truth, choosing not to retain 
the knowledge of God in their minds ; were 
left to rove in fancy's maze, till they sought 
God in every thing but in himself: hence a 
continuation of false conclusions drawn from 
true propositions. 



13 

The willing and obedient are taught of God, 
and have been in all ages. His revelations 
have been sufficient, at all times, to leave the 
world without excuse ; and to give instruction 
sufficient to enable all men, \n all ages of the 
world, to have a true idea of God, and to wor- 
ship him acceptably. 

Adam was turned out of paradise with a 
promise, and a representation ; a visible sign 
or token of the covenant, A flaming cherubim, 
or fire, which turaed every way, to keep the 
way to the tree of life. — (See Lightfoot, Park- 
hurst, Coke, &,c. also Article I.) 

As these authors are not in the hands * of 
snany, especially the two first, I shall select 
him whose opinion I think the fullest, and 
most clear from Jewish glossaries and Socini- 
anisra, and the best calculated to prove 
the second article of our religion, and to set 
forth the ideal meaning of that sacred emblem, 
intended by the great Giver to direct the ages 
before the flood, the patriarchal dispensation, 
ind the Levitical dispensation; until the Messiah 
:ame, and opened a new and living way, by 
entering into the holy of holies, there to 
abide a priest for ever. — Heb. vi. 20. 

Moses was commanded to place this emblem 
in the holy of holies, under the same name by 



14 



which it was first manifested to Adam : doubt- 
less for the same purpose ; viz. to keep the 
way to the tree of life ; to give intuitive know- 
ledge of the ever-blessed Trinity in Unity ; to 
save lost man by uniting the manhood to the 
Godhead. 

God said to Moses, Exod. xxv. 18, 19. " Thou 
shalt make two cherubims of gold: of beaten 
work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of 
the mercy-seat. And make one cherub on the 
one end, and the other cherub on the other 
end, &c." All which was done, Exod. xxxvii. 7, 

And the cherubims were, with the ark, 
placed in the holy of holies in the tabernacle ; 
and afterwards in the temple, Exod. xl. 20. 
And we observe, that in Exodus, Jehovah 
spake to Moses of the cherubim as a figure well 
known ; and no wonder, since they had always 
been among the believers in the holy taberna- 
cle from the beginning. Wisdom ix. 8. " Thou 
hast commanded me to build a temple upon 
thy holy mount, and an altar in the city where 
thou dwellest, a remembrance of the holy 
tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the 
beginning." 

Now, though mention is made of their faces 
in Exodus and 2 Chron. iii. 13. and of their 
wings ; yet in neither Chronicles or Kings, have 
we any particular description of their form 



15 

This, therefore, is exactly, and, as it were, 
anxiously supplied, by the prophet Ezekiel, 
ch. i. 5. Out of the midst thereof (that is, of the 
fire, unfolding itself) came forth the likeness of 
four living creatures, having the resemblance 
of a man in the erect position, and shape of 
the body ; and, there were four faces to one, 
or similitudes, and four wings to one of them. 
So there were at least two compound figures. — 
Ver. 10. The likeness or faces — The face of 
a man, and the face of a lion on the right 
side, to them four, and the face of an ox to them 
four, and the face of an eagle to them four 
Ezekiel the prophet knew them, that these 
were the cherubims, four faces to one cherub, 
and four wings to one. 

The Scripture proveth also that the prophet 
saw more cherubs than one, and that each 
cherub had four faces and wings. And we may 
be certain that the cherubs placed in the holy 
of holies, were of the form here described by 
the priest and prophet Ezekiel ; because we 
have already seen from Exodus, Kings, and 
Chronicles, that they likewise had faces and 
wings ; for Ezekiel knew what he saw to be the 
cherubim, because there were no four-faced 
cherubs but in the holy of holies, where Eze- 
kiel, being priest, saw them. It is also plain, 
from the reading of Exod. xxvi. 1-20. 2 Chron. 



16 

iii. 14. Ezekiel xli. 18, 19. that the artificial 
cherubs on the curtain, on the tabernacle, and 
on the wall, door, and veil of the temple, had 
only two faces ; namely, those of a man and a 
lion. For it must be observed, that as the 
word cherub is used for one compound figure 
with four faces, and the word cherubs for 
several such compounds, (Exod. xxxv. 18, 
19. Kings vi. 23, 24.) so is cherub applied to 
one of the cherubic animals, as to several oxen, 
1 Kings vii. 36. to several coupled cherubs, 
Exod. xxvi. 28. That the cherubic figures 
were emblems or representatives of something 
beyond themselves is agreed by all, both Jews 
and Christians. But the question is, of what 
were they emblematical ? Those of the holies 
were emblematic of the ever-blessed Trinity 
in covenant to redeem man, by uniting the 
human nature to the second person ; which 
union was signified by the union of the lion and 
the man in the cherubic exhibition. Ezekiel 
i. 10. compared with xli. 18,19. And itwas made 
"with cherubims and palm-trees, so that a palm- 
tree was between a cherub and a cherub ; and 
every cherub had two faces. So that the face of 
a man was towards the palm-tree on the one side, 
and the face of a young lion towards the palm- 



17 

tree on the other side : It was made through all 
the house round about. 

The cherubs in the holy of holies were cer- 
tainly intended to represent some being in 
heaven ; because St. Paul has expressly and 
infallibly determined, that the holy of holies 
was a figure, or type of heaven; even of that 
heaven which is the peculiar residence of 
God. Heb. ix. 24. " For Christ is not entered 
into the holy place, made with hands, the figure 
of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to ap- 
pear in the presence of God for us." There- 
fore these cherubs represented either the 
ever-blessed Trinity, with the manhood taken 
into the essence, or created angels. 

The following reasons will prove them to 
be emblematical of the former, and not of the 
latter ; not of angels, because no tolerable rea- 
son can be assigned, why angels should be ex- 
hibited with four faces each. 

2dly. Because the cherubim in the holy of 
holies of the tabernacle were, by Jehovah's 
order, made out of the matter of the mercy- 
seat ; beaten out of the same piece of gold as 
that was. Exod. xxv. 18, 19. The mercy- 
seat, made of gold and crowned, was an em- 
blem of the divinity of Christ. See Rom. iii; 



18 

25. The cherubs therefore represented, not 
the angelic, but the divine nature. 

3dly. That the cherubic animals did not re- 
present angels, is clearly evident from Rev. v* 
11. " And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many 
angels round the throne, and the animals." 
Rev. vh\ 11. "And the angels stood round 
about the throne, and about the elders and the 
four animals, and fell before the throne on 
their faces, and worshipped God." Here they 
are expressly distinguished from angels. 

4thly. The typical blood of Christ was sprink- 
led before the cherubs on the great day of 
atonement. Exod. xxxvii. 9. Levit. xvi. 19. 
And before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of 
the blood seven times. Heb. ix. 7, 12. But 
by his own blood he entered once,into the holy 
place, having obtained eternal redemption for 
us. And this cannot, in any sense, be referred 
to created angels, but must be referred to Je- 
hovah only: Because, 

5thly. The high priest entering into the holy 
of holies on that day, represents Christ's enter- 
ing with his own blood into heaven, to appear 
in the presence of God for us, Heb. ix. 7, 24. 
And, 6thly, when God raised Christ from the dead 
{that is, his humanity) he set him at his own right 
hand, far above all principality, and power * and 



19 

might, and dominion, and every name that is 
named, not only in this world, but also in that 
which is to come, Eph. i. 21. "Angels, and 
authorities, and powers being made subject to 
him. 1 Pet. hi. 22." 

If it should be asked, since it appears that one 
compound cherub solely was the representative 
of the ever-blessed Three, with the man unit- 
ed to the second person — why then were there 
two of these in the holy of holies ? I answer, had 
there not in this place been two compounds, it 
would have been naturally impossible for them to 
have what was there designed : for otherwise all 
the faces could not have looked inwards towards 
each other, and down upon the mercy-seat, 
and on the interceding high priest sprinkling the 
typical blood of Chritt. Exod. xxxvii. 9. And 
at the same time have looked outward towards 
the temple, to the outer house. 2 Chron. 
iii. 13. The wings of the cherubim spread them- 
selves forth twenty cubits: and stood on their feet, 
and their faces inward. Or, in other words, 
the divine persons could not have been repre- 
sented as witnessing to each other's voluntary 
engagements for man's redemption, as behold- 
ing the sacrifice of Christ's death typified in the 
Jewish church ; and at the same time as extend- 
ing their o-racious regards to the whole world* 



20 

Isa. liv. 5. c( Thy Maker is thy husband, the 
Lord of hosts is his name ; and thy Redeemer, 
the Holy One of Israel ; the God of the whole 
earth shall he be called." 

The coupled, or lion-man, on the veil and 
curtains of the outer tabernacle, and on the 
veil, doors, and wall of the temple, accompanied 
with the emblematic palm-tree, is a strik- 
ing emblem " of the Lion of the tribe of Judah," 
Rev. v. 5. united to the man Christ Jesus, as 
is easy to be perceived, but hard to be evaded. 
These coupled cherubs appropriate the taber- 
nacle or temple and their veils, as emblems of 
Christ, and express in visible syihbols what he 
and his apostles do in words. John ii. 19, 21. 
He spake of the temple of his body. Heb. x. 20. 
By a new and living way, which he hath consecra- 
ted for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. 
Matt. xxvi. 51. And behold, the veil of the temple 
was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and 
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. 

As the texts just cited from the New Testa- 
ment afford us sufficient authority for assert- 
ing, that the tabernacle or temple and their 
veils were types of the body of Christ; so 
they furnish us with an irrefragable argument, 
to prove that the cherubs, on their curtains or 
walls, could not represent angels. For did 



21 

angels dwell in Christ's body ? No, surely. " But 
in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
head bodily." Col. ii. 9. I go on to consider 
the propriety of the animal in the cherubic ex- 
hibition, representing the Three Persons of the 
ever-blessed Trinity. And here, to obviate any 
undue prejudices, which may have been con- 
ceived against the divine persons being sym- 
bolically represented under any animal forms 
whatever, let it be remarked, that Jehovah ap- 
peared as three men to Abraham, Gen. xviii. 2. 
— that the serpent of brass, set up in the wilder- 
ness by divine command, was a type or emblem 
of Christ, God-man, lifted up on the cross $ 
compare Num. xxi. 1, 9. with John hi. — > 
that at the baptism of our blessed Saviour, the 
Holy Spirit descended in a bodily 9hape like a 
dove upon him, Luke iii. 21, 22. — ThatChrist, 
as above intimated, is expressly called " the 
Lion of the tribe of Judah," Rev. v. 5. and con- 
tinually in that symbolical book, set before us 
under the similitude of a Lamb. 

All these are plain scriptural representations, 
each admirably suited, as the attentive reader 
will easily observe, to the particular circum- 
stance or specific design of the exhibition. 

Why then should it appear a thing incredi- 
ble ; yea, why not highly probable, that Jehovah 



22 

Elohim should, under the typical emblem, order 
his own persons, and the union of the manhood, 
with the essence, to be represented by animal 
forms in the cherubim of glory ? Especially 
if it be considered, that the three animal 
forms, exclusive of the man, (who stood for the 
very human nature itself) are the chief of their 
respective genera ; the ox or bull, of the tame, 
or granivorous ; the lion, of the wild and 
carnivorous ; and the eagle, of the winged kind. 
But this is by no means all : for the great 
agents in nature, which carry on all its opera- 
tions, are certainly the fluids of the heavens, 
or in other words, the fire at the orb of the 
sun, the light issuing from it, and the spirit or 
gross air constantly supporting, and concurring 
to the actions and effects of the two others; 
Psalm xix. I. " The heavens declare the glory 
of God," that is, are the means of declaring, 
recounting, or exhibiting " the glory, even 
of his eternal power and Godhead." Rom. i. 
1, 20. And accordingly, Jehovah is sometimes, 
though rarely, (I presume to prevent mis- 
takes,) called by the very name heavens in the 
Old Testament. " The king and the prophet 
prayed and cried to heaven," 2 Chron. xxxii. 
20. 2 Kings xix. 15. Isa. xxxvii. 15. Dan. 
iv. 23. As he is more frequently expressed by 



23 



OvpMo<;, heaven, in the New Testament. Mat, 
xxi. 25. The baptism of John, whence was it ? 
from heaven or of men ? Mark xi. 30. Luke 
xv. 18. I have sinned against heaven. John iii 
27. A man can receive nothing except it be given 
him from heaven. Yea, not only so, but we 
fincHn the Scriptures, both of the Old and New 
Testament, that the Persons of the Eternal 
Three, and their economical offices and opera- 
tions in the spiritual, are represented by the 
three conditions of the celestial fluid, and their 
operations on the material world. Thus, the 
peculiar emblem of the Word or Second Per- 
son, is the light, and he is and does that to the 
souls or spirits of men, which material or natu- 
ral light does to their bodies. 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. 
Isa. xlix. 6, 9. Mai. iv. 2. Luke i. 79. ii. 32, 
&c. " A Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the 
glory of thy people Israel," &c. 

The Third Person has no other distinctive 
name in Scripture, but nn in Hebrew, Unvf^ue, 
in Greek ; both which words, in their primary 
sense, denote the material spirit or air in mo- 
tion ; to which appellation, the epithet tsnp, 
<*y<ov, holy, or one of the names of God, is 
usually added ; and the action of the holy Spi- 
rit in the spiritual system, are discovered by 
those of air in the natural. See John iii. .8. 



24 



XX. 22. Acts ii. 2. And suddenly there come a 
sound from heaven, as of a rushing wind, and 
it filled all the house where they were sitting. 

Thus then, the second and third Persons of 
the ever-blessed Trinity, are plainly repre- 
sented in Scripture by the air. But it is fur- 
ther written, " Jehovah thy Elohimis a consu- 
ming fire," Deut. iv. 24. ix. 3. Heb. xii. 29. 
Psalm xxi. 9. " Thou shalt make them as a 
fiery oven in the time of thine anger, the Lord 
shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire 
shall devour them." And by fire, derived either 
immediately or mediately from heaven, were 
the typical sacrifices consumed under the old 
dispensation. Since, then, Jehovah is in Scrip- 
ture, represented by the material heavens, and 
even called by their name, and especially by 
that of fire ; and since the second and third 
Persons are exhibited respectively, by the two 
conditions of light and spirit ; and since fire is 
really a condition of the heavenly fluid, as 
much distinct from the other two, as they are 
from each other ; it remains, that the peculiar 
emblem of the first Person (as we usually 
speak) of the Eternal Trinity, considered 
with respect to the other two, is the fire. 
Bearing then in mind, that the personality in 
Jehovah, is in Scripture represented by the 



25 

material trinity of nature, which also, like 
their divine antitype, are of one substance ; 
that the primary type of the Father is fire, of 
the Word, light, and of the Holy Ghost, spirit 
or air in motion ; we shall easily perceive 
the propriety of the cherubic emblems. For 
the ox or bull, on account of his horns, the 
curling hair on his forehead, and his unre* 
lenting fury when provoked ; (Psalm xxii. 12. 
iC Bulls of Bashan have beset me round,") is a 
very proper emblem of fire ; as the lion, 
from his tawny gold-like colour, his flowing 
mane, his shining eyes, his prodigious strength, 
is of light; as is likewise the eagle of the 
spirit, or air in action, from his being chief 
among fowls, from his impetuous motion, 
2 Samuel i. 23. Job ix. 26. Jer. iv. 14. Lam. 
iv. 19. and from his towering and surprising 
flights in the air. Job xxxix. 27. Prov. xxiii. 
10. " They take wings and fly away, as an 
eagle, towards heaven." 

Thus then, the faces of the ox, the lion, and 
the eagle, representing at second hand the 
three Persons of Jehovah, the Father, the 
Word, and the Holy Ghost ; and the union of 
the divine light with man, being plainly pointed 
out by the union of the lion and the man ; 
Ezek, i. 10. And they four had the face of o 
3 



26 

lion, and the face of a man. Ezek. xli. 18. 
And every cherub had two faces. We may 
safely assert, that the cherubim of glory, Heb. 
ix. 5. in the holy of holies, were divinely insti- 
tuted, and proper emblems of the three Eter- 
nal Persons, in covenant to redeem man ; and of 
the union of the divine and human nature in 
the person of Christ. 

And we find, Gen. iii. 24. that immediately 
on Adam's expulsion from paradise, and the 
cessation of the first or paradisiacal dispensation 
of religion, Jehovah Elohim himself set up 
these emblems, together with the burning 
flame rolling upon itself to keep the way to the 
tree of life, undoubtedly, considering the ser- 
vices performed before them not to hinder, but 
to enable man to pass through it. 

I come to inquire into the ideal meaning of the 
word 3TD or cherub, And here it is to be ob- 
served, that 3*0 never occurs as a verb in the 
Hebrew language ; nor is it ever applied to 
any thing from whence we can collect its ideal 
meaning as an uncompounded word. See Lex. 

We have already seen, that the sacred 
imagery, to which it is most usually applied, 
was emblematical of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ. Tit. ii. 13. Accordingly 
the Hebrew 31 is one of the highest epithets 



27 



known in that language, and signifies great in 
power, wisdom, and glory ; or whatsoever can 
be termed perfection. According to Marius de 
Calasio's interpretation, " Nomen formale mag- 
niiicenciae et domini," it is the formal name of 
magnificence and dominion, therefore it is ap- 
plicable to the true God ; and we find it in fact 
so applied in the Hebrew Scriptures, Psalm 
xlviii. 3. Prov. xxiv. 10. Dan. ii. 45. 3 is in- 
disputably, a particle of likeness or similitude ; 
and we have shown that each compound cherub 
in the holy of holies, was a similitude or sub- 
stitute of the Majesty on high, or in the heavens. 
So St. Paul, Heb. i. 3. Sat down on the right 
hand of the Majesty on high. What is more 
rational than to suppose, in a language so de- 
scriptive as the Hebrew, that Kerub should 1 
also be descriptive of the emblems to which it 
is applied ? And if we consider it as a word 
compounded of D like, and 311 majesty, what can 
be more so ? for then it will literally signify an 
emblem or representation of Majesty. 

When Kerub is applied to one of the animal 
forms in the cherubim, it may be literally ren- 
dered an emblem of a great one ; for in both the 
material and eternal Trinity, none is greater 
or less than the other ; but the whole three 
conditions or persons are coagents together, and 



28 



coequal. Psalms xviiL 11. " He rode upon a 
cherub, and did fly ; yea, he did fly upon the 
wings of the wind," &c. Where nothing can 
be plainer than that one of the condition^ of 
the material heavens, namely, the nn or spi- 
rit, (air) is itself called 31"Q a cherub, or em- 
blem of a great one, i. e. of the immaterial 
Spirit. 

But here it should be carefully remembered, 
that the institution of the cherubim was, as 
above intimated, far prior to the giving of the 
law by Moses, and was coeval with the cessation 
of the first, or Adamical dispensation of religion, 
and with the removal of man from Paradise ; 
for we read, Gen. iii. 24. " So he drove out 
the man, and placed (in a tabernacle) the che- 
rubim or cherubs. See Coverdale's Transla- 
tion. 

The cherubim and the flame of fire, turning 
or rolling upon itself. The fire catching or in- 
folding itself, Ezek. i. 4. " to keep the way to the 
tree of life." Now what in reason can be meant 
by the cherub here mentioned, but such as were 
well known to the Israelites by that name at 
the time of Moses's writing? and what these 
were we have already shown. It is true, 
indeed, that the apostate Jews in general have 
in this text, though without any authority from 



29 

Scripture, made cherubim angels ; but some of 
the Jews, even since the time of Christ, un- 
derstood them here to mean two cherubs, simi- 
lar to those in the Mosaic tabernacle. " And he 
thrust out the man :" from that time he caused 
the glory of his presence to dwell of old between 
the two cherubims. Targum of Jerusalem." 

Since the design of the cherubs thus set 
up by Jehovah Elohim, and of the services 
to be performed before them, was no less than 
to preserve the " way to the tree of life," 
Rev. ii. 7. and Xxii. 14. and since they are in- 
deed mentioned as the sum and substance of 
the second or Patriarchal dispensation, as the 
Jews truly confess the ark with the mercy-seat 
and cherubim to have been of the whole Levit- 
ical service, there can be no doubt but these 
sacred emblems were carefully preserved by 
Adam and his believing posterity to the time of 
Noah, and from him to Moses. CalmeU 

After the flood, the worship of the heavens gra- 
dually spread, and prevailed among mankind; but 
it is certain from Scripture, history, sacred and 
profane, the apostates to that worship observed 
in effect the same ceremonies, and performed 
the same service to their false gods, as had 
been by divine institution performed to Jeho- 
vah ; so we meet very many remarkable traces 
3* 



30 

of the cherubic exhibition among the Gentiles 
throughout the world, the sacred emblems were 
designed by our gracious Creator, to direct the 
world under the first and second dispensations, 
to worship the holy Trinity in Unity, and to 
enable men to join in the song, st Holy, holy, 
holy, is the Lord God Almighty, which was r 
and is, and is to come," Isa. vi. 3. and Rev. iv< 
8. three Persons or Elohim, and one Jehovah, 
in union with man. These sacred emblems in 
this hymn, ceded all divine power to God-man 
Christ, that he must reign till all his enemies 
were made his footstool. As a mistake in the 
ideal meaning of the emblems would lead men 
to idolatry, it pleased the Author of salvation 
to add living teachers, so that a correct notion 
of the hidden meaning might be comprehended, 
conveying the promises from generation to 
generation, that the woman's seed should de- 
liver man, and bruise the serpent's head. But 
such as apostatized from the true worship of 
God, were given up to vain imaginations ; be- 
cause they refused to retain God in their 
minds, God gave them up, Rom. i. they pur- 
sued a reverse course ; evil they pursued, in- 
stead of good ; bitter for sweet, and sweet for 
bitter ; darkness for light, and bestial pleasure 
for celestial joys. Though Noah prparhed, M el* 



3i 

chesidec prayed, Abraham obeyed, and Job pa 
tiently endured all things ; and all the ancient 
worthies under the three first dispensations be- 
fore Christ; still proud apostates continued to 
multiply idols, till they worshipped every thing 
as their chief good ; but the only good they 
neglected ; were unmindful of the Rock of their 
salvation. Therefore the Son of man came to 
seek and to save that which was lost ; to declare 
the acceptable year of the Lord; himself the 
way, the truth, and the life. 

But the pure word was soon corrupted by an 
enemy who sowed tares while men slept, even 
to the denying the Lord. From true revela- 
tion, false spirits, false preachers, from among 
the called of the Lord, went forth, wandering 
stars, Eben, Cerenthus, Simon Magus, the 
Gnostics, Manichees, Arians, Socinians, Pelagi- 
ans, Semi-Pelagians, Adamites, Montanists, No- 
Hellers, No-Resurrectioners, with the tribe of 
Antinomians ! Raging waves, foaming out 
their own shame ; trees, whose fruit wither ; 
continually drawing false conclusions from true 
propositions, as apostates did false worship 
from true emblems ; thereby introducing igno- 
rance, presumption, pride, self-will, deism, and 
atheism ; these are the roots of bitterness which 
spring up, trouble the faithful , and defile many. 



32 

The essential doctrine of the holy Scriptures 
are openly opposed by some, inveighed against 
by others, and disbelieved by manj^. But as the 
sacred emblem under the former dispensations, 
demonstrate the sacred Trinity in unity with 
man, to redeem man, so under the present 
dispensation, the revealed word of God demon- 
strates the same, viz. That the Father is God, 
the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is t^od, and 
these three One, coequal and coeternal. 

John i. 1 . In the beginning was the Word, and 
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
The same was in the beginning with God. All 
things were made by Him; and without Him was 
not any thing made. On this sublime truth, our 
Church is founded. See Art. II. and Dr. Coke's 
Sermon on the Trinity, delivered before the 
founders of our Church ; and to a number of 
learned divines of other denominations of the 
European churches, and other learned gentle- 
men. These quotations can be applied to none 
but Jesus Christ; it is blasphemy to apply it to 
any other, that ever hath lived, or ever will 
live. He only could say, I came out from the 
Father, the Logos or Light, issu du Pere. That 
which issues from, must be of; not so that 
which is the operation of his hands. The 
rocks are not God, though he made them; 

• 



63 



men are not divine, though formed by a divine 
hand ; but his Power is himself, his Wisdom 
himself, and Christ is both the Power and Wis- 
dom of God. Therefore his precepts, the law 
of God ; his voice the voice of God, his pro- 
mises the promises of God. Ye believe in God, 
believe also in me. 

God is Father by eternal generation, having, 
by an inconceivable and ineffable way, begot- 
ten his Son coequal and coeternal with himself; 
and therefore called the only-begotten Son of 
God, John iii. 16. Thus God is Father only 
to our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his di- 
vine nature ; and whensoever this title Father 
is given to God, with relation to the eternal 
Sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ, it denotes 
only the first Person of the ever-blessed Trini- 
ty ; therefore chiefly and especially called the 
Father : but it is a relative attribute, belonging 
equally to all the Three Persons, as hath been 
sufficiently proved by Scripture, and by ancient 
and modern authors, who have borne testi- 
mony to this essential truth. 

a From Thee in one eternal Note, 

Thy Son, Thy offspring flow'd; 
And everlasting Father thou, 

As everlasting God" wesley. 

Christ being called the Word of God, it is certain 



34 

that Christ and the Word, are only different ti- 
tles for the same person, and is by way o£ emi- 
nence, always applied to a particular subject - f 
and is derived into the New Testament from 
the theology of the Jews and Gentiles; and as 
the New Testament gives no distinct explica- 
tion of it, it is safe and reasonable to derive its 
sense from that ancient source. See Scott. 

The Word is very anciently used in the wri- 
tings both of Jews and Gentiles. Rabbi Azariel, 
in his treatise of holiness, quotes it out of the 
book of the creation, which was written by 
Rabbi Abraham, an ancient cabalist, who, the 
Jews say, was the Patriarch Abraham. " The 
Spirit," says he, meaning the Most High God, 
" bringeth forth the Word, and the voice, and 
these three are one God." Thus also it is 
frequently used in the Chaldee paraphrase, as 
eminently appropriate to a Divine Person. So 
in Isaiah,* instead of, "Israel shall be saved in 
the Lord,'" they read it, " by the Word of the 
Lord ';" and in Jeremiah,! instead of, " lam with 
thee" they read, " because my Word is with 
thee:" and in Geresis.J instead of, " I am thy 
shield" they read, "my Word is thy shield;" 
and so in sundry places which are worthy of ob- 
servation. In the book of Psalms,§ instead of, 

* Isa. xlv. v. 17. f J er. t Gen - xv 

§ Psa. cv. 1 



35 

a TJie Lord said unto my Lord" they read 
" The Lord said unto his Word:" which our 
Lord now applied to Himself,* as being the Word 
or Logos there mentioned. In the same sense 
it was also used very anciently in the writings 
of the Gentile philosophers. Tertullian, in hi4 
Apology, tells us, that Zeno speaks of a Logos or 
Word, by which the world was made, which 
Zeno called fate, God, and the soul of Jupiter. 
The ancient Orpheus, as quoted by Clement Alex- 
andrinus, exhorts men " to behold and contem- 
plate the Divine Word, who is the immortal 
King of heaven." Plato tells us, " the mo- 
tions of the stars were disposed and ordered by 
the Word ;" by which it is plain that this phrase 
was used, both by Jew and Gentile, as appropri^ 
ate to a Divine Person, long before the writings 
of the New Testament ; and that the New Tes- 
tament derived it from their writings is certain ; 
for it attributes to Christ the same titles and 
character which they were in the habit of at- 
tributing to the Logos or Word. Thus, as the 
New Testament calls Christ the Messias, the 
Word, so the Chaldee Paraphrase expressly 
tells us, thatMessias is called the Word of God. t 
And as Paul calls him, " the King immortal," 
so Orpheus, in the afore-named place, calls the 

* Matt. xxii. 44. f Hos. ch. 7. 



m 

Word " the King immortal. " And as Christ is 
said to be the " Image of God,"* and the " ex- 
press character of his person, "t so Philo calls 
him " the character of God, and the shadow and 
image of God." And Ploten, that " it is the 
light streaming forth from God, even as bright- 
ness from the sun :" and as St. John tells us, that 
the Word was from the beginning with God, and 
was God :" Philo tells us, that by prerogative 
of eldership, he abideth with the Father ; and 
Zeno, that he is God. 

Ploten tells us, that being " the Word and 
the image of God ? " he is inseparably con- 
joined with him. Whereas Christ tells us, 
that " He is the Light of the world," " the Man- 
na that came down from Heaven," and " the 
bread oflife." j The same Philo styles him, " The 
Word," the light, the manna, the food, which 
God hath given to the soul of man. And whereas 
it is said lat the Father is in Christ, and that 
he dwells and abides in him.§ Philo saith, 
that M The Word is the house of the Father, 
in whom he dwells:" and whereas Christ is 
said to have a name, and to be advanced above 
all principalities and powers. || Philo tells us 
that the Divine Word is above all worlds, and 

* 1 Cor. iv. 4. f Heb. ii. 3. 

J John vi. 33, 35. § lb. xiv. 10. || PhU. ii.9. 



37 

the most ancient of those that are. Whereat 
Christ is said to be the " High Priest over the 
house of God."* Philo tells us, that " The 
world is the temple of God, in which the first- 
born Divine Word is the High Priest." Where- 
as Christ is said to be " The Son of God and 
the First-born of every creature." Plato calls 
the Word, the " High Son of God." Ploten, 
« The Son of God." Whereas God is said 
to have created the world by Christ,t and to 
have committed the government of it to him; 
so Plato calls the Logos, " The Governor 
of all things, and the Viceroy of God ;" and also 
" The instrument of God by whom he made 
the world." As in Christ the fulness of the 
Godhead is said to dwell ;f so Ploten tells us 
that " the Logos is filled with God." As Christ 
is called " great Shepherd of our souls ;"§ so 
Philo tells us, that " God, who is King and Pas- 
tor of the world, hath appointed the Word, his 
first-begotten Son, to take the care of bis sacred 
flock, as his own viceroy and substitute ;" and 
accordingly, in the same place, he maketh the 
Word to be that angel whom God had pro- 
mised to send before the camp of Israel, to 
conduct them through the wilderness. 

* Heb. x. 21. 
f Heb. i. 2. % Col. "*• 0. § 1 Pet. ii. 25. 

4 



38 

In a word, as the angels are said to be subject 
unto Christ, and as Christ is said to be the An- 
gel or Messenger of God ; so Philo calls the 
most ancient Word, " The Prince of the an- 
gels," or " Messenger of God." Christ is 
called the " Mediator of a new covenant, and 
the Intercessor between God and man; the 
propitiation and atonement ;" so Philo, " the 
Word is the intercessor for mortals with the 
immortal God ; and also the Ambassador of the 
great King to his subjects;" which office, says 
he, "he willingly undertook, saying, I will 
stand in the middle between the Lord and you, 
as being unborn as God, nor born as you, but 
being a medium between these two extremes, 
I will be a pledge for both ; for his creatures, 
that they shall not utterly apostatize from him; for 
God, that he will not be wanting in his fatherly 
care towards man." He also tells us, that " the 
Divine Logos is the beginning and end of God's 
good will to the world ;" which is all one with 
propitiation or atonement. 

The authority of Philo may well be insisted 
upon ; because he, being a Jew and a Platonic 
philosopher, must well understand the the- 
ology of Jews and Gentiles ; and being about 
the time of our blessed Lord's sojourning on 
earth, he must be supposed to have written in 



39 

terms that were then used and well understood 
by Jews and Gentiles. The* it must necessa- 
rily follow, that this phrase, " The Word," so 
common in that author, was very commonly 
used both by the Jews and Gentiles in our Sa- 
viour's time ; and consequently that it was de- 
rived from them, and so applied to our Saviour 
by the inspired writers of the New Testament. 

It is not to be conjectured how the inspired 
writers should ever have so exactly agreed 
with the Jewish and Gentile character and 
title of Eternal Word, had not they them- 
selves, or the Spirit of God, purposely derived 
it from them. 

Our Saviour is styled " The Wordj" a term 
which was very common, both in the Jewish 
and Gentile theology ; and no where is there 
the least intimation, that He is called so by 
way of allusion ; nor is it in all the New Tes- 
tament explained in any other sense than that 
wherein it was commonly used ; and, there- 
fore, the intent of the sacred writings in using 
it must be, either to denote the same thing 
which it before signified, or to impose upon 
the world. Doubtless, if the Holy Spirit, who 
inspired those writings, had meant any thing 
else by it than what it ordinarily signified, He 
would have told us of it, and not have given us 



40 



•uch unavoidable occasion to mistake , in su 
essential a point of doctrine, by clothing its 
sense in a phrase that would generally signify 
what was never meant. For when the Holy 
Spirit called Christ by the same name, and attri- 
buted to him the same titles and characters by 
which the Jews and Gentiles were accustomed 
to describe their Logos, it must naturally fol- 
low, that all persons would conclude, as much 
honour and glory would be attributed to Christ, 
as they had an idea was attached to their Eter- 
nal Logos. We may venture to say, that had 
the Spirit of God not intended we should have 
received such an opinion of Christ, He would 
not have given him that name, and these titles ; 
or else, to prevent our being imposed upon by 
such appellations, He would have given their 
true explication : but, since it is not done, we 
may safely, and rationally conclude, that He 
did mean the same thing by this name and 
those titles, with those from which He de- 
rived them ; and, consequently, that the most 
certain way for us to understand what is the 
sense of Christ's being the Word, is to consi- 
der what those Jews and Gentiles meant by it, 
from whose philosophy and theology it was 
derived. 



41 

As for the Jews, it is plain that by the Word 
they meant the Messias. Rabbi Arama, upon 
Genesis, explaining that passage in the 107th 
Psalm, " The Lord sent forth his Word, and 
they were healed ;" expressly tells us, that by 
his Word is meant the Messias. Rabbi Simeon, 
the son of Johni, explaining Job xix. 26, " Yet 
in my flesh shall I see God," saith, that " the 
mercy which proceeds from the highest wis- 
dom of God shall be crowned by the Word, and 
take flesh of a woman." 

That by the Word he means the Messias, and 
that by the Messias they mean a Divine Sub- 
stance, is evident from sundry passages in the 
Old Testament, which often apply the name 
Jehovah to the Messias ; and which, according 
to the opinion of the Jews, ought not to be im- 
parted to any creature. In Isaiah,* " Jehovah 
Sabaoth," (so it is in the margin,) " shall be a 
crown of glory unto the residue of his people," 
which those interpreters understand to be the 
Messias. So also in Isaiah, t In that time shall 
the present be brought unto the Lord of Hosts ; 
that is to sa}', unto the Messias. In Jeremiah,f 
by " Jehovah our Righteousness," they under- 
stand the Messias ; and by the name of the 
Everlasting, Moses Henderson understands the 

* Isaiah xxviii. 5. + Isaiah xviii. 7. I Jer. xxxiii. 16. 

4* 



42 

same as the Messias, or Anointed King. Cer- 
tainly, had they not believed the Messias to be 
a Divine Substance, they would never have at- 
tributed to him the incommunicable name of 
God, of which they had so high a veneration, 
that they thought it too sacred to name, and 
much more to assume. The Commentary up- 
on the 4th Psalm expressly saith, " Because 
the Gentiles cease not to ask us where is our 
God, the time will come that God will sit among 
the righteous, so as they shall be able to point 
him out with their finger ;" which plainly re- 
fers to the coming of the Messias. The Sep- 
tuagint change Shaddai, the undoubted name 
of the Omnipotent God, into Logos the Word. 
In Ezekiel,* where, instead of the Voice of 
God, they read <pmi m A«y#, the Voice of the 
Word of God. They often use the Word of God 
for God himself; and more especially with re- 
lation to the creation of the world. Instead of 
" I made the earth,"! " I by my Word made 
the earth." And instead of, " God made man, "J 
the Jerusalem Targum reads, * c the Word of 
the Lord made man." Instead of, " they heard 
the voice of the Lord,"§ the Paraphrase reads 
it, " And they heard the voice of the Word of 

*Ezek.i.24. f Isai. xlv. 12. 

X Gen. i. 27. § Gen.iii.8. 



43 



the Lord God.'' And as the Jews believe the 
Word to be a Divine Substance, so also the 
Gentile Numenius, the Pythagorean, as he is 
quoted by St. Cyril contra Julian, calls the Fa- 
ther the First, and the Word the Second God. 
Ploten tells us, that the Word or Image of God 
beholdeth God, and is inseparably joined with 
Him ; and Porphyry, as he is cited by Cyril, 
tells us that the Essence of God extends to three 
Beings, to wit, the Highest Good, which is the 
Father, and the Maker of all things, which is 
the Word, and the Soul of the world ; and these 
he also calls the First, Second, and Third, 
And of Pythagoras, Proculus the Platonist af- 
firms, that he acknowledged three Gods to- 
gether in one. And Plato, in his 6th Epistle, so 
far owns the divinity of the Word, that he ex- 
horts his friends to invocate "God the Govern- 
or of all things that are and shall be, and also 
the Lord and Father of that Prince and Go- 
vernor:" by the first of which he evidently 
means the Word ; since it is to the Word that 
he elsewhere attributes the government of the 
stars and heavenly bodies : by all which it ap- 
pears, that by the Word they understood some 
Divine Substance,whose nature is exalted above 
all finite being whatsoever. Therefore our Sa- 
viour, to whom this phrase, the W^ord, is applied 



44 



must be that Divine Person or Substance, ag 
we find him styled by John, " In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God;" which expressions 
are exactly agreeable to the phrase of the 
Gentile theology, that A melius the disciple of 
Ploten, and a great enemy to the Christians, was 
forced to acknowledge, " that this is the Word 
which was from everlasting, and by whom all 
things were made." Of John he said, " This 
Barbarian is of our Plato's mind, that the Word 
is ranked among the principles," as Austin 
quotes. And unless we understand this pas- 
sage of the Eternal Deity, how is it possible to 
make tolerable sense of it ? For if in the begin- 
ning we understand, as the Socinians would have 
us, in the beginning of the Gospel, when John 
Baptist began to preach, the words will imply 
a gross tautology ; and the sense of them must 
be this, that Christ was when John the Baptist 
preached he was ; or, that he was when he was. 
Can it be thought worthy of an Apostle so so- 
lemnly to tell us, that the Word had a being in 
the beginning of the Gospel, when we know 
the Baptist thought as much himself; who came 
baptizing with water, that he should be made 
manifest to Israel ? Matthew and Luke^ who 
wrote before John, taught us more than this, 



45 

viz. that he was in being thirty years before ; 
which was also true of any other in the world ; 
even of Judas who betrayed him, or Pilate who 
condemned him. By in the beginning, there- 
fore, must be meant, in the beginning of the 
world ; and that even the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God. So, Phil. ii. 6, 7. 
" Who, being in the form of God, thought it 
not robbery to be equal with God, but made 
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the 
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness 
of men:" whence these three conclusions 
do naturally follow — First,that Christ was in the 
form of a servant as soon as he was made man. 
Secondly, that he was in the form of God be- 
fore he was made man. Thirdly, that he, be- 
ing in the form of God, did as really and truly 
subsist in the Divine nature, as he did in the 
form of a servant, or in the nature of man. The 
literal translation runs thus: But emptying 
himself; taking the form of a servant; being 
in the likeness of men ; which plainly implies, 
that Christ was full before he emptied himself 
by taking the form of a servant ; which empty- 
ing presupposeth a precedent plenitude, which 
plenitude consisted in being in the form of God, 
so as to think it " no robbery to be equal with 



46 

God." So in the Revelation,* he solemnly 
proclaimeth his own divinity — " I am Alpha 
and Omega, the first and the last ;" which is 
the incommunicable title by which God de- 
scribes his own Being, and distinguishes it from 
all others ; as in Isaiah,f "lam the first and I 
am the last, and besides me there is no other 
God." These and many other plain Scrip- 
tures we find in the New Testament, affirm 
the eternal divinity of the blessed Word. There- 
fore, since the Eternal God was constantly, both 
by Jews and Gentiles, signified by the phrase 
" The Word," there is no reason to think that 
John should make use of it in any other way ; 
for, in so doing, he would naturally lead the 
people astray, and take an effectual course to 
make them believe what he never intended. 

Now it is clear that Christ is the Eternal Lo- 
gos ; which word has a twofold signification. 
First, it signifieth reason, which is the inferring 
one thing from another ; and this is the offspring 
of the mind. Secondly, it signifieth speech, 
which is an audible expression of our thoughts 
and reasoning ; and this is the interpreter of 
our mind, especially in those who are in sover 
eign authority, and rule by their word and com- 

* Rev. i. 11. f Isaiah xliv. 6. 



47 

mand. Our blessed Saviour is called " The 
Word/' upon both these accounts, both as he is 
the reason and the speech of God ; and accor- 
dingly his being " The Word," denotes his be- 
ing generated by the mind of the Father, even 
as our words and reason are the issue and off- 
spring of our own mind. For it was the opi- 
nion both of Jews and Gentiles, that the Eternal 
Word was but that perfect notion and idea and 
conception, which God from the beginning had 
formed of himself, and all other beings in his 
own mind.* For the Jews tell us, that every 
thing below hath some root above ; which root 
they call sephiroth, by which all the inferior 
substances are stamped, shaped, and fash- 
ioned ; and this seal, they tell us, is that 
most perfect idea of things, which God did 
form in his own mind, according to which he 
fashioned all the beings that are in the world. 
For, say they, all the three worlds, that is, the 
rational, the sensitive, and inanimate, were 
printed with the same print, and sealed with 
the same seal ;| and that that which is sealed, 
and receiveth the sealing here below, is like to 
the shape and form of those things above, 

* See Rev. Cotton Mather's life, Methodist Maga- 
zine, page 6. 

t Cudworth on the Union of Christ and his Church. 



48 

which did seal and stamp the signature upon 
them. Now these three worlds, they say, be- 
ing one below another, God set upon them the 
seal of Sephiroth so bard, that he print- 
ed them quite through the bottom of them ; 
that is, he stamped them all into an exact 
resemblance of those ideas which he had 
formed of them in his own mind. So that ac- 
cording to them, before God made the world, 
he formed the idea and model of it in his own 
understanding ; which, together with that idea 
or notion, which from all eternity he con- 
ceived of himself, the Jews and philosophers 
called the Logos, or Eternal Word of God. 
Him Philo calls, the Word of God, the ukm* 
©£*; and tells us, that " as a city before it was 
built, existed only in the mind of the builder, 
so the world had no other place than the di- 
vine Word that made it." And afterwards he 
tells us, that the intellectual world, that is, the 
world that contains the idea of all things, is 
nothing else but the Word of God, now making 
the world. Accordingly the Jews call the 
world the wisdom of God ; and Rabbi Isaac Ben 
Schola, on the last verses of the 1 1 1th and 1 12th 
psalms, says, " this wisdom is of the most in- 
ward understanding of God, who beholds him- 
self in himself." From all \rhich it is apparent, 



49 

that the Jews attributed the original of this 
divine Word to the mind of the Father ; it being, 
according to their divinity, nothing else but 
" the most perfect conception and idea which 
God, from everlasting, formed of himself and 
all other beings, in his own mind." In this 
opinion the most celebrated philosophers among 
the Gentiles do most exactly agree ; and hence 
they generally call the Word " the wisdom of 
God, or understanding of the Father; he being 
the most perfect idea or conception by which 
the Father understands himself and all other 
things." Accordingly Alcinous tells us, that 
Plato taught, that " God is a mind, and that in 
the same there is a certain idea, which in re- 
spect of God, is that knowledge which God 
hath of himself, and in respect of the world, is 
the pattern or mould thereof; and in respect of 
itself, is very essence." Ploten tells us, that 
" God is both the party that is conceived in 
the mind or understanding, and also the party 
that conceives him;" and he makes the Word 
to be that which God doth mind in himself, 
which is himself, and his own immense per- 
fections ; and that the nature of that idea of 
himself, which he holds in himself, is an act 
which issues from him, which consists in be- 
holding and minding of himself, and in behold- 
5 



50 

ing, becomes the self-same with him. And this 
understanding or knowledge which God hath 
of himself, Ploten calls " the Son of the Sove- 
reign Father," that bears the like resemblance 
to him as the light doth to the sun in the fir- 
mament. And to name no more, Porphyry, 
as he is quoted by Cyril, tells us, that it was 
the doctrine of Plato, that " of the Good," 
(which he elsewhere calls the Father,) " is 
begotten an understanding in a manner un- 
known to men, in which are ail things that tru- 
ly are, and the essence of all things that have a 
being; that is, the substantial idea of God and 
all created things whatsoever. And upon this 
account it is that they call this divine substance 
" the Word," because it was generated by the 
mind of the Father, even as our words are ge* 
nerated by our mind. Accordingly the ancient 
Jews and Christian fathers did generally ex- 
pound that great eulogium of wisdom in the 
book of Proverbs,* concerning the eternal 
Word : " Wisdom was set up from everlasting, 
and possessed by God in the beginning of hi<- 
ways ; that it was brought forth by him before 
the world ; and that when He appointed the 
foundation of the earth, then was it by him a? 
one brought up with him, and was daily hi* de« 

* Prov. xxii. 31. 



51 

light, rejoicing always before him'." And the 
New Testament plainly refers to this, when it 
calls Christ the wisdom of God,* the same title 
which Jews and Platonists give to the Word, as 
that eternal knowledge and understanding 
which God hath of himself, and all other be- 
ings. The apostle John seems plainly to indi^ 
cate the same ; for speaking of the Word he 
saith, " In Him was life, and the life was the 
light of men." It will be hard to give any ra- 
tional account how that light which was in the 
world, should enlighten men, unless we sup- 
pose his very life and being to consist in know- 
ledge and understanding; for by the light of 
men here, is plainly meant, that divine know- 
ledge which is revealed to the world by Christ ; 
and this divine knowledge, he tells us, is the ve- 
ry life of the world ; and afterwards he express- 
ly calls " the Word," the light itself, from 
whence all our knowledge of God and good- 
ness is derived. This is exactly what Philo 
saith of the Word, viz. " that he is the intellec- 
tual sun that is altogether ;" and with what 
Ploten says of the vv<; or divine mind, iC that he is 
alight shed forth every where, streaming from 
God, and begotten of him ;" which is a plain 
evidence that Christ is the substantial light an4 
* 1 Cor. i. 24. 



52 

knowledge of all things, which God from ever- 
lasting formed in his own mind. 

He is called the Mind of God, because he is 
the offspring of God's understanding ; even as 
our reason is the offspring of ours. 

He is called the Word of God, because he is 
the perfect image of God, even as words are 
the image of the mind ; and the eternal Word is 
frequently called the image of God by Jews and 
Gentiles. Ploten has said, that " This divine 
understanding, being the very word of God, and 
image of God, everlastingly beholds God, and 
cannot be separated from him, being the begot- 
ten issue, word, and image of the Sovereign of 
the universe." " I came out from the Father, 
and am come into the world." John xvi. 28. 

Rabbi Moses, the son of Neheman, as he is 
quoted by Maseus, proves that the angel of 
God's presence, which went before the camp of 
Israel, was the Messias, or eternal Word, be- 
cause he is the Son of God, in whom God's 
face was to be seen. Philo very frequently 
calls the Word the image and resemblance of 
God, and the most perfect image and exact re- 
presentation of God. So then the Word must 
have the same nature, essence, and perfection, 
with God the Father; and the only possible 
difference between them must be this, that 



53 

whereas the Father exists of himself, the Word 
exists of the Father. And as it must he granted, 
that God, who is infinitely knowing, must ne- 
cessarily know himself perfectly ; then it wilt 
follow, that there must be the same perfection 
in that idea, by which he knows himself, that 
there is in himself. Then the Eternal Word, 
which is declared to be the most perfect idea of 
the Father, must be a vital and substantial prin- 
ciple, endued with all the perfection of the 
divine nature ; which is agreeable to the notion 
of all orthodox Christians, of Christ, the Divine 
Word; for he is described to be the " image of 
God ;" * " the brightness of his glory, and the 
express character of his person." And, being 
so, he must necessarily be what God is — that 
is, God essentially ; or else Christ cannot be the 
perfect image and express character of God; 
and accordingly he is called God over all, 
blessed for ever.j The perfections of the 
divine nature we very frequently attribute to 
him, particularly omniscience ;J eternity ;§ 
Alpha and Omega ; the beginning and the end- 
ing ; the rirst and the last. So that, on this 
account, he may very properly be called, The 
W r ord of God; because as our words are the 

* 2 Cor. iv. 4. f Rom. ix. 5. J John xvi. 30. § lb. I 12. 
5* 



54 



image of our minds, so Christ is the most per- 
fect image of God. Christ is called the Word, 
because he is the interpreter of the Father's 
mind, even as our words are interpreters 
of our minds to others. And this, Philo the 
Jew takes notice of, as the proper work and 
office of the Word, to be " the ambassador of 
the Great King to his subjects," to communi- 
cate his mind and will to them. And that in the 
execution of this office he gives orders to others 
as a king; commanding some, and instructing 
others, as a schoolmaster ; others, as a coun- 
sellor, he faithfully admonishes ; and all this he 
performs as the interpreter of the mind of God. 
Elsewhere he expressly calls him, " The In- 
terpreter of the mind of God to men." So 
that it was upon this account, as well as others, 
that he was called by the ancients, " The Word 
of God." The same account is given of it in 
the New Testament : " No man hath seen God 
at any time ; the only -begotten Son, who is 
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared 
Him." Here is a particular reason assigned, 
why, though other men have interpreted the 
will of God to man, yet Christ alone is called 
The Word of God, because he only was, and 
is the immediate interpreter of the Divine 
Will. For he was in the very bosom of the 



55 

Father, and there understood his mind ; not by 
the instruction of angels, nor by the Holy Spirit, 
but by an immediate tuition of his thought and 
purposes, which, from all eternity, were ex- 
posed to his view. For, as Gregory Nazian- 
zen observed, " Christ has the same relation 
to the Father as the inward thought has to the 
mind, because of his intimate conjunction with 
him, and power to declare him to the world ; 
for the Father is known by the Son, who is a 
brief and easy demonstration of the Father, as 
every thing that is begotten is ciawm Aoydc, 
the silent word of that which doth beget it. 

Christ is called the Word, because he is the 
executor of the Father's will, even as the word 
and command of a king is the executor of his 
will and pleasure ; or, according to the sense 
of the ancients, God hath, from the very begin- 
ning, governed the world by his eternal Logos ; 
whom they therefore called " The Immortal 
King, Governor of all things that are or shall 
be, and the Viceroy of Jehovah." By this Word 
God executed his will when he made the 
world ; for by his Word he made the heavens, 
and all the host of them, by the breath of his 
mouth. He did but say the word, " Let there 
be light, and there was light." And to his 
powerful word the whole frame of creation 



56 

was but a real echo. For these expressions, 
" Let there be light, and let there be a firma- 
ment," are not perhaps to be understood as if 
the Almighty did actually pronounce those syl- 
lables ; but they rather seem to be a popular 
description of the infinite energy of the Eternal 
Word, by which God made the heavens and 
the earth ; to whom it was as easy to give being 
to the world, as to command it to be ; and this 
passage of the Psalmist, "By the Word of the 
Lord the heavens were made ;" and of Paul to 
the Hebrews,* " The worlds were framed by the 
Word of God ;" seem rather to denote that pow- 
erful act which was exerted by the vital and sub- 
stantial Word of God, whereby he instantly, and 
as it were with a word, gave existence to those 
beings he intended to create, rather than any 
articulate word pronounced by God himself. 
Because in this chapter, and many others in 
the New Testament, it is expressly said, 
God made the worlds by Christ, who is the 
living and substantial Word which was with 
God from the beginning. Well therefore 
may Christ be called the Word of God, 
since by him God doth as actually execute 
his will, as if it were done by the word of 
his own mouth. For Christ hath such power,. 

*Heb. ii.3. 



57 

both in heaven and on earth, that, at his word 
and command, all things are presently done 
according to his will. Therefore we may ob- 
serve in the Revelations,* Jesus is represented 
as King of kings and Lord of lords, clothed in 
a royal purple robe ; and is called the Word of 
God, who was to execute the Divine vengeance 
on the nations, by the power which he had at 
the right hand of God before the world was. 
Hence we are taught the eternal divinity of our 
blessed Saviour even from this great name, 
'the Word, which is so justly attributed to him. 

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
amongst us; nevertheless, not so made flesh as 
to cease to be the Word : not changing that 
He was, but assuming that He was not: 
although our human nature w r as advanced by 
Him ; His divinity was not diminished. The 
great mystery spoken of by Paul, " God mani- 
fested in the flesh," was no detriment to the 
Godhead, which, with its glorious rays, beamed 
forth in God our Saviour. 

We can justly infer from these consider- 
ations, the eternal divinity of our blessed 
Saviour Jesus Christ; even from this great 
name, " The Word ;" and that the Holy Spirit 

* Rev. xix. 13. 



58 

has used it for this very purpose, and would 
have us understand it as it was understood by 
the ancients, to signify the same — namely, that 
the divinity of Christ was from all eternity, 
according to the opinion of the fathers of the 
church ; for, Tertullian, in his book against 
Praxian, tells us, " that from Adam to the pa- 
triarchs and prophets, Christ always descended 
to discourse with man ; and that that God who 
conversed on earth with men, was no other 
than that Eternal Word, which was to be made 
flesh. " The same assertion was strenuously* 
made by Justin Martyr, in his discourse against 
Trypho the Jew. 

He who was attended with loud-sounding 
trumpets, with thunders and lightnings, with 
fire and smoke, and all the equipage of 
dreadful majesty ; such as caused the moun- 
tain, and the people to tremble ; Exod. xix. 
16, 20. afterwards removed into the tabernacle, 
and abode between the cherubim in the holy 
of holies. Exod. xl. 34, 35. He dwelt among 
us, full of grace and truth, sweetness and 
obligingness of love ; the only-begotten Son of 
the Father, the Saviour and brother of men. 
Heb. ii. 10. Seeing that this sublime truth has 
been so defended, and demonstrated by the 
sacred word of God, and so supported by the 



59 

Apostles and Fathers in the church in past 
ages ; shall we give it up to the wandering stars 
of our days ? (Jude 13.) — who would bring in 
heresy, professing to be wise ? I mean the 
Gnostic synagogues of our day, who are 
spreading the poison of Arianism throughout 
Christendom. 

Before we give up the eternal sonship, and 
divinity of Christ, let us consider what we 
give up ; and then we shall be better able to 
judge whether to contend for it as an article of 
faith or not. 

1. We must give up with the divinity of 
Christ, our knowledge of sins forgiven ; for 
none but God can forgive sins ; of course we 
must go to judgment as uncertain as a Turk or 
a carnal Jew. 

2. We must give up sanctification by the 
Third Person in the adorable Trinity, with all 
its wifnessing powers ; and take comfort (if we 
can) in believing what we may experience at 
the day of judgment. 

3. We must give up all expectation of happi- 
ness after death, till the day of judgment ; an 
interval to some of several thousand years ; to 
be insensible to all pleasure of soul, as well as 
body ; and sleep, both soul and body, in the 



60 



grave, together. Which consequence is not 
pleasant to a mind which desires to be with 
Christ. But he died ! and for us ! The sun was 
dark from the sixth until the ninth hour ! He 
said, It is finished ! But he rose again ! He sit- 
teth at the right hand of God ! till his enemies 
shall submit, and acknowledge him Lord of all : 
For thus it behoved him to suffer, and to rise 
again the third day ; which is another leading 
and general doctrine of the Christian faith. 
Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of 
death, because it was impossible that he should be 
holden of it. 

The philosophers, whom Tertullian called 
patrons of heretics, have established two pe- 
remptory maxims, utterly against what scrip- 
ture reveals. 

1. Ex nihiloy nihill habitur ; from nothing, 
nothing can be made I directly contrary to the 
account given by Moses of creation. 

2. A privatione ad habitum non dature re- 
gress ; there is no restoration of the same being, 
after a total corruption or dissolution of it; 
which still is a great prejudice against the re- 
surrection of the dead ; and the oracles of rea- 
son have troubled the world with them. 

Yet, both the creation of the world, and the 
resurrection of our bodies, were urged by the. 



61 

apostles of Christ, and are essential doctrines 
in the church of God. Nothing can be con- 
strued to imply a contradiction with Him, who 
raised up Jesus ; for the apostle asserts the im- 
possibility of Christ's final continuance under 
the power of death. The grave, that grasps and 
retains all other mortals, was not able to detain 
him, who hath immortality and life dwelling in 
himself ; therefore God hath raised him up. He 
is the efficient cause of Christ's resurrection, 
in the concurrent action of the whole Trinity. 
The God of our fathers hath glorified his S071 Je- 
sus, Acts iii. 13. 

This glorious act is also ascribed to the Son, 
who, by the infinite power of his divinity, rais- 
ed up his human nature from the grave. John 
iii. 18. / lay down my life of myself : I have pow- 
er to lay it down, and power to take it up again. 

The same is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, 
Rom. viii. 11. If the Spirit o/*him who raised up 
Jesus from the dead, dwells in you, he that raised 
up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your 
mortal bodies by his Holy Spirit. The same Spi- 
rit quickens both the head, and the members. 

There are three unions, the belief of which 

are the foundation of the greatest part of the 

Christian religion, all wholly beyond the reach 

of reason : 1 The union, or rather unity of the 

6 



62 

three glorious Persons, the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, in one nature. 2. The 
hypostatical union of two persons, in the Medi- 
ator. 3. The mystical union of a believer unto 
Christ. It is a mystery that angels pry into, 
and adore with astonishment, how the eternal, 
only -begotten Son of God, should assume flesh 
to himself in so close and intimate conjunction ; 
that though he be eternal, yet he should be 
born ; though he be immortal, yet he should 
truly die ; and though he were dead, yet he 
should raise himself to life again. These 
things did truly come to pass through this mi- 
raculous union ; which transcends the reach of 
reason as far as these things do the reach of 
nature. That the same person that is eternal, 
should be young and born in time ! That the 
same that was truly and really dead, yet had 
power to quicken and recover himself ; and 
this it was which declared him to be the Son of 
God with power, even by his resurrection. 
Rom. i. 4. 

Now if he had not risen from the dead, the 
character of the Deity would have suffered in 
the opinion of mankind. For John was held as 
a prophet, and the Shekinah appeared at Jor- 
dan ; and a voice was heard testifying the plea- 
sure of heaven, and to the sonship of Christ. 
He preached to the world his death, and his 



63 

resurrection ; I have power to lay it down, and 
power to take it up again. If heaven bore wit- 
ness to an imposture, and helped him to prac- 
tise fraud, what would be the result ? a collu- 
sion with the author of fraud or lies. But a 
learned man said, " We know that thou art a 
teacher sent from God, for no man can do the 
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." 
It was clear that God was with him ; even Je- 
hovah Elohim, whose righteousness and truth, 
was never impeached but by a devil, and that 
by an utter falsehood. This God was in Christ 
reconciling the world to himself. So Christ 
and God are one. 

If Christ did not raise himself, it must have 
been for the want of power or will. If want of 
power, omnipotence is not an attribute of God ! 
If want of will, truth is not an attribute of 
God ! Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see 
corruption. Because of the union of the di- 
vine and human nature in the person of Christ, 
it was impossible that his flesh could see cor- 
ruption ; which it must certainly have done, if 
not raised from the dead, and that on the third 
day. So then, because the truth of God, the 
omnipotence of God, and the hypostated union 
of the divine and human nature of Christ in 



64 

one person, it was altogether impossible he 
could be holden of death. 

It was impossible that Christ should be hold- 
en of death in respect of his mediatorial office. 
For having, as our mediator, undertaken the 
desperate service of bringing sinful and fallen 
man to life and happiness, he must of necessity 
not only die, but rise again from the dead ; 
without which his death, and whatever else he 
did and suffered for us, would have been of no 
avail. 

Two thing6 are requisite before any real 
and eternal benefit can become ours. 

First, a meritorious purchase, procuring for 
us what is needful ; the price of which was paid 
by the suffering and death of Christ, to satisfy 
divine justice : and mercy and truth kissed 
each other over the offender, man. 

Secondly, the effectual application of that 
benefit to us, is by the life and resurrection of 
Christ. Wherefore if Christ had only died and 
not risen again ; if he had not overcome death 
within its own empire, and triumphed over the 
grave in its own territories, it would have been 
to his own disappointment, and not at all to our 
salvation. 

The loss of Christ's life would not have pro- 
cured life for us, unless he had laid it down 



65 

with freedom, so that he again could have 
restored it with power. Our hope of salva- 
tion otherwise would have been buried in the 
same grave with him. But what he died to 
procure, he lives to confer! From igno- 
rance of the resurrection, the disciples told 
Christ a sad story. " Jesus of Nazareth, 
that was condemned and crucified ; who, 
while he lived among us, by his word and 
works, testified himself to be the true Messiah, 
we little thought of his death ; and when he 
told us of it, he likewise told us of his resur- 
rection the third day. The third day is al- 
ready come, and there is no appearance to us, 
satisfactory to our minds, on a subject of such 
importance. For we verily trusted, that it 
had been he who should have redeemed Is- 
rael ; but our hopes are grown languid in us ; 
for if our hope in him is cut off, we and the 
world may despair of any other to excel or 
equal him in any thing that should characterize 
Messiah, as we understand the Scriptures. 
Nothing staggered our faith in him, but his suf- 
fering in such a barbarous manner ; and his 
death, which was the greatest shock to our 
hopes, and has almost sunk us into despair for 
time and eternity. For if life is not from him, 
we must utterly despair ; and if he cannot come 
6* 



66 



to us v in our distress, our little company must 
be as men in whose mouths there is no re- 
proof." But, in the midst of this gloomy dis- 
course, the adorable Redeemer interrupted 
them, by saying, "O people without under- 
standing, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
prophets have foretold. Christ must suffer, and 
die, and rise again, in order to be a high priest 
for ever, and to be the King eternal, immor- 
tal, and invisible ; to enter into his glory, and 
at the end of the world to quicken them that 
are under the power of death and the grave. 
Rising first himself, he will raise them who 
were in his interest in ages past and in ages to 
come." Then opened he their understanding, 
so as to comprehend the Scriptures, which 
fully revealed both these, as to his death, as is 
frequently predicted by the Holy Spirit, in the 
prophets of the Old Testament, and in the 
Psalms, as well as in the types ; and without 
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of 
sins. Therefore, such as say, Christ might 
have died a common death, are in danger of 
very great presumption and heresy. The 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments both 
assert his resurrection ; and without his resur- 
rection, hope is delusion. So then, whoever 
ventures to say, Christ rose not from the dead, 



67 



ventures to contradict the Scriptures both of 
the Old and New Testaments ; and do bring in 
damnable heresy, even denying the Lord who 
bought them. Christ did rise I Christ did 
ascend to glory ! Christ is a High Priest for 
ever ! Christ is King immortal ! Christ is 
the Second Person in the adorable Trinity ! 
Christ is the Idea and Word of God ! The 
manhood joined to the Godhead, as in the 
cherubic representation. 

Reader, turn back, and pause, and adore ! 
Kiss the Sen, lest God be angry. Human nature 
is exalted ; do not debase it ! Ye are the tem- 
ples of the living God ! And if any man defile 
the temple, him will God destroy. 

But the particular doctrine, order, and 
discipline, of the Methodists, so called, are 
they truly apostolic usages ? or are they schis- 
matical and heretical ? or have they ever been 
so ? Can those charges be reversed from the 
Scripture, and the concurring testimony of 
accredited, good, and incontestable authority, 
so as to justify an attachment to that branch of 
Christ's church, and to fellowship in her ordi- 
nation ? 

I could wish these questions had been an- 
swered, and laid at rest, by some abler hand, 
ere this time; but as I think I can answer 



68 

them to the satisfaction of every sincere in- 
quirer ; and, as the Holy Ghost has command- 
ed me to give a response to all who may ask 
of the hope that is in me, I shall here take 
upon me to comply, as minutely, as I think it 
may be necessary. 

First, permit me to make, what I deem a 
necessary digression from the general subject ; 
in order to run the clue to my purpose, and to 
the reader's information, on the points in 
controversy, between the evangelical church 
of America, and those organized on the old 
continent ; and still bearing their standard with 
little variation. 

My first education was under an English- 
man, of excellent talents as a teacher of the 
English language, and in every thing that ap- 
pertained to his profession* I found him very 
attentive to me when 1 knew not how to go out 
and come in ; and as 1 grew in strength of body, 
so he made me grow in mind. He taught me 
the Church of England Catechism, and a short 
prayer for morning, and another for evening ; 
the Lord's prayer, the ten commandments, and 
the apostles' creed. I found I had been bap- 
tized by a missionary sent out under the King 
and Parliament, and that he was supported by 



69 



a tax, to preach and administer baptism and 
the Lord's supper. I had no knowledge of 
confirmation, as the church was not organized ; 
had no bishop, no convention in the provinces. 
It was in an imperfect state ; but it was a society 
belonging to the Church of England — ^[See Dr. 
Chund's remonstrance to the dommoners of 
England, in his petition for a colonial Bishop.] 

I, therefore, was instructed in the doctrines 
and in the forms of that church, as far as I un* 
derstood them, which was but imperfectly. 
My father gave me a new Common-prayer 
Book, in addition to my little library ; and this 
I made the book of my counsel— of course I 
never doubted the validity of baptism* as prac- 
tised by applying the water to the subject, in- 
stead of applying the subject to the water ; be- 
cause the Scripture saith everywhere, bap- 
tize, or sprinkle zvith water, not in water. 

As to the subject, I can never doubt the vali- 
dity of infant baptism. — While we believe the 
Holy Scripture, we must believe that infants 
have a right to baptism : for we find thousands 
of infants were baptized unto Moses by special 
direction of the great Head of the Church, 
the Word of God. They were made members 
of the church in the wilderness by baptism, and 
not by circumcision, as some affirm. Baptism 



70 

was the means of admission to the special pre- 
sence of God, Gen. xxxv. 2. Therefore 
baptism, as now directed, in the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the approved 
medium of access to the privileges, prayers, 
and protection of the church of Christ ; and 
children were martyrs for the Lamb of 
God, and are his redeemed. 

Circumcision was a seal of the promised in- 
heritance which God made to Abraham ; 
saying, this land will I give unto thee, and to 
thy seed after thee ; and ye shall circumcise the 
flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token 
of the covenant between me and you. When 
Messiah came, and the sceptre departed, cir- 
cumcision was abolished. Sanctification was 
typified in circumcision. Canaan was a type 
of the rest that remaineth for the people of 
God. No person could inherit under the 
covenant made with Abraham without circum- 
cision. Into that rest which is eternal, none 
can enter under Christ, without circumcision 
of the heart, that is sanctification by the Holy 
Spirit, promised under the New Covenant — " I 
will sprinkle clean water upon you, and cleanse 
you from all filthiness of flesh ; a new heart 
will I give you," 



71 

The prediction of Moses was fulfilled in 
Christ. — A prophet shall the Lord your God 
raise up unto you, like unto me. Moses took 
charge of such as were given him by baptism — 
namely, six hundred thousand, besides women 
and children, making many thousands more. 
They were all baptized — he ruled them by 
laws given by himself. — So the congre- 
gation of Christ is set apart by water, and 
his special charge, consisting of male and fe- 
male, old men, and infants. 

From the mount he announced his law, by 
which all that hear him are to be governed ; 
and though, when he made an end of this say- 
ing, he did not denounce immediate judgment 
on every offender. He closed, by saying, he 
that doth them not shall be like unto a foolish 
man, &c. 

After Moses went to heaven, Joshua brought 
the people to the inheritance ; but before he 
divided them a lot, he ordered all to be cir- 
cumcised. So, after Christ lead captivity 
captive, he sent the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
to circumcise their hearts, that they might 
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ 
Jesus, and have no more confidence in the flesh. 
So, by the will and act of Christ, is established 
the ordinance of water and fire, to purify His 



72 



church in all ages ; and thereby to fit her for 
another world. — Water purged the old world, 
and fire will purify the next. The Anti- 
poedo-baptists, if well informed, cannot be 
sincere in their profession, as to the proper 
subjects of baptism ; for, first, they must 
$ee 9 that baptism was long before John's 
time, and that to that ancient rite infants 
always were admitted.— Secondly, that it is 
impossible to administer baptism, upon their 
plan, so as to have it right, without repeating 
baptism as often as they mistake the subject. 

I asked a minister, of the Baptist order, if 
he did not think he sometimes baptized hypo- 
crites ? He answered me in the affirmative, 
I asked him if that same hypocrite should 
afterwards repent, and by a life correspondent 
to the gospel, for seven years evidence the 
sincerity of his heart ; and should want to com- 
mune with them, would their church admit him ? 
He answered, they would. I then asked him, 
if they would admit him without baptism ; for- 
asmuch as he was an unbeliever at the time 
of his being baptized. He answered, " Our 
church have thought proper never to repeat a 
valid baptism !" Then, what makes it valid ? 
either the mode, or the operator ; for if an 
infant cannot be baptized on the faith of a pious 



73 

parent, cannot be considered as having 
a right to the privileges of the church of 
Christ, how should the lies of hypocrites, 
told by way of experience, make valid that 
ordinance? Until the Baptists repeat bap- 
tism, as often as they find themselves de- 
ceived in profession, all their talk and noise 
is beating the air with me :— they are not 
consistent with themselves. 

We know that Ananias and Sapphira were 
baptized. Now, if the Baptists say, that they 
were believers, it will follow that apostacy is 
possible, and that total. 

Simon Magus was also baptized, and if he 
was a believer, in their sense of the word, when 
he was baptized, the regenerate may fall away 
and be lost. Thus the Baptists make valid a 
baptism without faith. Or, they must baptize 
over again to be right, or allow the possibility 
of a believer's total apostacy from God. 

Thus we see how they think on the subject 
of baptism, and how they make it valid only, 
when they perform it; and disturb the con- 
sciences of weak believers without cause : yea, 
more, commit a sacrilegious act by pretending to 
do that which was done by the church of Christ 
before in the name of the Sacred Trinity. 
Wherefore, as Baxter has said, it is a « sacrile- 



74 

gious renunciation of all former vows, and instead 
of being a matter of joy to angels, is a matter of 
grief to men : it sets churches at variance ; it 
makes the breath of Christ's disciples strange 
to one another ; it foments division in neigh- 
bourhoods, and is the origin of every evil 
work." For this, and the like reasons, I never 
wished to attach myself nor my children to the 
Baptist church, in form, doctrine, nor order. 

As to the Papists, all they can say against us, 
is as the chaff which the wind carries away, and 
has been answered by men who have gone be- 
fore. By the Providence of God, Popery 
is left to sink under its own weight. " Ba- 
bylon is fallen, is fallen." 

Great fault has been found with the doctrine 
which the Wesleyans taught. The first objection 
I heard, was to being born of the Spirit. The 
next was to our knowing ourselves in a state 
of acceptance with God. But these were soon 
silenced by Scripture, and by consulting the 
principles on which the reformers begun ; 
as may be seen from the controversy which 
took place between Richard Hooker, master of 
the temple, andTravers, chaplain in ordinary; 
which controversy was decided by their Bishop. 
Hooker had said in a sermon, that religious ex- 
perience was not as clear as any thing which * 



75 



man knew by the senses : Travers said it was. 
The bishop decided as follows : M Religious ex- 
perience was at times as clear as any thing 
ever known : at othertimes not quite so clear."* 
For these causes, and the like, I attached 
myself to John Wesley's missionaries, (or, 
rather, God's missionaries, guided by Wesley's 
hand, as Israel was guided by Moses,) rather 
than to the missionaries sent out by Parliament, 
as they had, generally speaking, abandoned 
the precious truths of grace in the soul, both 
felt and known. The latter were located 
to parishes : the former itinerated and taught 
from house to house. The located mission- 
aries read their sermons ; and spoke above the 
capacity of the people, and as Mr. Locke has 
said, " Subtlety and acuteness may procure to 
themselves the admiration of the willingly de- 
ceived, and produce admiration because not 
understood ; yet it brought small advantage to 
human happiness, or the society wherein they 
dwelt. It is to the unscholastic statesman that the 
governments of the world owed their peace, 
defence, and liberties ; and from the illiterate 
and contemned mechanic (a name of disgrace) 
that they received the improvements of useful 

* Hooker's Life. 



76 

arts ; while artificial ignorance and learned 
gibberish perpetually entangle in endless laby- 
rinths. Doubtful and undefined words are the 
fortification of strange and absurd doctrine. 
Such subterfuges are the resort of men void of 
truth, who darken counsel with words with- 
out knowledge." 

Practical itinerating Wesleyan preachers 
used plainness of speech, and urged repentance 
towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus ; took 
great pains to make people understand scriptu- 
ral things, zealously breathing the spirit of 
their missions, distinguishing between the pre- 
cious and the vile ; taught in families as well as 
in public, and thus became nursing fathers to 
as many people as were disposed to receive in- 
struction from them. One of those preachers 
was my second teacher in piety, after I was 
done with my first, namely, the schoolmaster. 
As to the parson of the parish, I never knew 
myself profited by him, in all my life, either by 
his doctrine or example. He spoke very bro- 
kenly in the pulpit, and I never heard him speak 
of religion out of it. There was no bishop, of 
course none to complain to, let his conduct be 
as it would ; and most of them were loose 
men, and known to be so 

I became a Wesleyan, from pure and disinter- 



77 

ested motives, heartily embracing what I now 
call our particular tenets,* and left the parlia- 
mentary missionary. This occurred during 
our struggle for independence, which was ac- 
knowledged by Great Britain in the year 1783. 
In the spring of that year, I set forward 
and joined Francis Asbury, the only Wes- 
leyan missionary who continued with us, and 
the only representative of Wesley then left 
upon the continent ; and he scarcely dared to 
own him, for Wesley's politics were known to 
be unfavourable to the American revolution; so 
that he was as good as dead to us ; yet was he 
considered as father of the work ; and, our di- 
vine, but not our politician. At the moment 
when independence was given up to the States, 
all the missionary business was done, as it re- 
spected Great-Britain. Independently of the 
Societies of the Church of England not organ- 
ized, there was no bishop, and few ministers 
of that order, ordained or unordained, left on 

* Manifestation — Conviction, by the Holy Spirit 
applying the word to the conscience. 

Demonstration — The knowledge of pardoned sin 
by the Holy .Spirit •, also, acceptance or sonship. 

Sensation — Feeling 1 God's Holy Spirit carrying 1 on 
the work of holiness in the heart, as a witness of con- 
tinuing in the faith: all which I hope to show in the 
sequel. 



78 

the continent; while, at the same time, the 
power of the British parliament was sufficient to 
keep them without as long as it pleased, if a 
regular succession only was to be sought. At 
this time, Dr. White, of Philadelphia, wrote his 
piece, entitled " Elective Episcopacy ;" which 
was as much as to say, Why shall we waste any 
longer time ? Some of the Methodist preachers 
said, " As to this Wesley, we know not what 
has become of him — necessity is the law." But 
Francis Asbury remonstrated, and his remon- 
strance inclined them to ask counsel of John 
Wesley. He had to say, ; ' You are cut off; 
you are no more under the British hierarchy 
than the states of Holland ; I can do nothing for 
you, but send you my counsel by Thomas Coke, 
my messenger and your superintendent, with 
full authority to organize a church of Christ, 
according to the New Testament, in the spirit of 
prayer and prophecy, in the name of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost." 

For some time after peace, no access could be 
had to the bishops of England, when sought for 
by their own missionaries, who were almost all 
friends to the former government. Now, as 
this w 7 as their treatment to their friends, what 
were we to expect, whom they sent not, and al- 
ways suspected of disaffection to their plan of 
church and state government ; for although it 



79 

was told us that Wesley was of the Church of 
England, yet it was a mere matter of moonshine 
to the body of our preachers, who consisted of 
such as were educated Protestants, Quakers, 
Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, Papists, and 
Mennonists. Wesley was a mere thread to 
unite us to the Church of England nominally ; 
and he told us he could hold us no longer. 
Then we considered it necessary to become a 
church on the continent ; and, like new-fledged 
eagles, to make use of our own wings, as we 
were thrown off, or fall entirely. Now, as we 
were a mixed multitude, we took care to be as 
near the Apostolical plan as possible ; as that 
was ordered of God, and prospered best in that 
form, we hoped for success in that way ; and 
as our superintendent, Francis Asbury, had 
acted as a Timothy or Titus, in setting things in 
order, it was a thing of course to consider him 
in the same capacity, and especially as it was 
Wesley's desire and our choice, it naturally 
went into effect. 

Not many of us could consult the father, so 
called in the church ; but we could all read the 
New Testament. There we found, that not- 
withstanding Bishops and Elders bore the same 
order in the church, we could see that Bishops 
and Timothy did not, and Elder and Titus did 



not, but that Timothy and Titus were of an 
order between an elder or bishop and an apos- 
tle, and that a charge was given to them by 
Paul, which was not given to any of the elders 
but such as were counted worthy of another 
degree of honour. The stationing of the minis- 
ter appeared to be an apostical plan, for Paul 
said, "for this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou 
shouldest set things in order, and ordain elders in 
every city, as I appointed thee"* Henry's com- 
ment on this passage is powerfully to the point, 
" That Titus, though inferior to an apostle, 
yet was above the ordinary fired pastor or 
bishops, who were to attend particular church- 
es ; but Tittis was jn a higher sphere, to or- 
dain such ordinary pastors as were wanting, 
and settle things in their first state and form, 
and then to pass on to other places for like 

* The apostle Paul gave it as one of the marks of a 
declining* church, the choosing their own teacher. He 
calls it heaping 1 to themselves teachers, having itching 
ears. 

Our government grew up under the appointment of a 
superintendent, by the consent of preachers and people : 
as such, our episcopacy is constitutional. It cannot be 
altered but by the general consent of the preachers and 
people. The alteration of any thing in a government 
long established, is like removing ancient landmarks : — 
it must be done by tfce consent of all parties concerned. 



31 



services, as there might be need. Titus was 
not only a minister of the catholic church, as 
other ministers also are, but a catholic minis- 
ter. Other ministers had power habitually and 
actu primo to minister any where upon call 
and opportunity ; but evangelists, such as Titus 
was, had power in actu secundo et exercito, and 
could exercise their ministry wherever they 
came, and claim maintenance of the church. 
They were everywhere actually in their dio- 
cese or province, and had a right to direct and 
guide, and preside among the ordinary pastors 
or ministers. Where an apostle could act as 
an apostle, an evangelist could act as an evan- 
gelist, for they wrought the work of the Lord ; 
and did it in a like unpaid and itinerant manner.* 
Titus was but occasionally, and for a short time, 
in Crete : Paul willed him to despatch the 
business he was left for, and come to him at 
Nicopolis, where he purposed to winter. Af- 
ter this he was sent to Corinth, was with the 
apostle at Rome, and was sent thence to Dal- 
matia. So that from thence no fixed episcopa- 
cy does appear ; and we find not in scripture 
that he returned thither any more. But, ques- 
tion, what power had either Paul or Titus 

* 1 Cor. xiv. 10. 



82 

here ? Was not that which they did an encroach- 
ment on the rights of civil rulers ? Answer, In 
no sort. They came not to meddle with civil 
right any way : " Who made me a judge or di- 
vider over you ?" Their work was spiritual, 
and to be carried on by conviction and persua- 
sion ; in no way interfering with, or prejudicing, 
or weakening the power of magistrates, but 
securing it rather. 

" The things wanted, were not such as the 
magistrates are the fountains and authors of, 
but divine and spiritual ordinances, and ap- 
pointments for spiritual ends, and derived from 
Christ the King and Head of the church : for 
settling these Titus was left at Crete. And 
observe, it is no easy thing to raise churches, 
and bring them to perfection. Paul had him- 
self been here labouring and yet there were 
things wanting. Materials that are out of square 
need much hewing and fitting to bring them 
into right form, and when they are set therein, 
to hold and keep them so. The best are apt 
to decay and go out of order ; ministers are to 
help against this, to get what is amiss rectified, 
and what is wanting supplied. This in gene- 
ral was the work of Titus at Crete: especially 
to ordain elders in every city ; i. e. ministers 
who were mostly chosen out of the elders. 



83 

On such account was Titus left at Crete, to 
set in order things that were wanting, and to 
ordain elders in every city. But this he was 
to do, but not ad libitum, or according to his 
own fancy, but according to apostolic direc- 
tion. 

Next after apostles, are evangelists. God's 
clergy are a state which hath been, and al- 
ways will be ; a state whereunto the rest of 
God's people must be subject, as touching their 
souls' health ; as the Holy Ghost hath appointed 
leaders, he hath appointed some to be led 
There always hath been two orders among the 
clergy ; the one supreme and the other subor- 
dinate. All well ordered governments imi- 
tate this ; — Abraham appointed Eleazer over all 
his house — Potiphar appointed Joseph, so Pha- 
raoh set Joseph over Egypt. Moses was ap- 
pointed over the church of God in the wilder- 
ness, and though himself not consecrated after 
the manner of Aaron, yet a priest by an extra- 
ordinary commission from God. Exod. xxix, 
11. And by that authority and his consecration, 
Aaron was high priest, and his sons subordinate 
in the sacerdotal department. So in the secu- 
lar department, immediately or mediately, but 
with special reference to Heaven's selection. 

Our adorable Saviour characterizes his se- 



84 



lection to this high office and order in his 
church, first, a servant ; second, wise ; third, 
faithful ; to rule over all his house ; to give 
them a portion of meat in due season. On this 
authority Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was ad- 
dressed in an epistle by Ignatius, " next to the 
Lord, do thou exercise care over the flock ; let 
nothing be done without thy sanction, and, let 
your assemblies be held frequently ; inquire 
after all by name." 

With this supreme rule in the church, is 
given a special charge, by the Holy Spirit, con- 
cerning the person to whom it is to be con- 
veyed ; faithful men ; able, as well as apt to 
teach, patient, sober, just, wise* abstemious, not 
greedy of filthy lucre, grave, a pattern of piety. 
To this dignified station, the apostles were ap- 
pointed by Christ giter his resurrection ; " As 
my Father sent me, so send I you," " Rule thou 
in the midst of thy enemies." Was this charge 
ever given to Judas ? was this rule in the 
church ever made over for a moment to him ? 
Search and see. 

Another election to this sacred function, was 
by prophecy. Acts xiii. 1, 2, 3. The Holy 
Spirit said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for 
the work ^hereunto I have called them. And 
a liken they had fasted and prayed, and laid their 



85 



hands on them, they sent them away. Now whe- 
ther this took place in a garret, or in a parlour, I 
know not; this we know, there was no apostle of 
the succession present when they commenced; 
and that there were two apostles, when they 
did the work of setting Barnabas and Saul apart 
for that sacred order. These apostles of the 
Holy Ghoat, knowing themselves authorized to 
plant churches, and to appoint evangelists, 
which were apostles of the apostles ; such they 
would have' the church to respect as them- 
selves ; not merely as set apart by the apostles, 
but being first qualified ; full of faith and the Ho- 
ly Spirit. " All authority in the church is found- 
ed in grace, and forfeited by sin;" as a sinful 
course excludes a man from office in the church of 
Christ, so all wicked men are unfit for the sa- 
cred function ; he cannot convey that which he 
never had any part nor lot in. Actual proper- 
ty cannot be conveyed by an alien, nor to an 
alien ; of course succession cannot always be 
depended on, so as to exclude every other 
way : except we allow the doctrine of infalli- 
bility, which no protestant church ever con- 
sented to. See Wakefield, Hammond, and 
others. 

For these, and the like reasons, we took the 
mode of government which we found most 



86 

apostolic ; and after the lapse of twenty-five 
years, being abundantly blessed in it, we have 
fixed a constitution for its perpetuation. This 
constitution now encloses nearly 200,000 souls, 
and still is not broken. We are spread from 
one end of North America to the other, where 
the English language is spoken ; and hope to 
be ever undividedly one in Christ, in fonn, 
doctrine, and order. Unanimity is of Christ ; 
order and law have their seat in his bosom, 
Angels and men, and all creatures whatsoever, 
with one consent adore her as mother of their 
joys. Whoever will think after this manner, 
will see that our orders in the church are of 
God, as was the apostles' ; for the truth of 
which we appeal to scripture, experience, and 
success, and do humbly venture to call it divine, 
But in this harmonious and divine plan we 
are often interrupted, if sarcasm and reproach 
be an interruption. We must expect to have 
this kind of interruption ; and light as it may 
appear, it has a tendency to weaken the faith 
of some, give uneasiness to others, and raise 
scruples in the minds of many more ; and you, 
my brethren, have felt some force in their as- 
sertions, though unscriptural and void of can- 
dour ; for while scripture is well consulted, and 
candour exercised, it will be soon discovered 



87 



that the ordinary course in all things is to be 
observed. But some, for want of due consi- 
deration, would make a form for God himself; 
and that no other but their own plan should be 
approved. From such uncandid judges we re- 
ceive much insult and reproach, which is hard 
to bear ; yet under this, my brethren, as you 
are in the world, you must bear up and pray for 
them that persecute you, though they be guilty 
of sacrilegious acts ; indeed, if the Methodist 
church is a church of God, how sad the act 
which spreads reproach on all our solemn 
things ; and makes us a self-created society, 
a needless sect ! Lord, in mercy forgive them, 
when they repent. 

Far and near, books are circulated to prove 
us dissenters, schismatics, and a dangerous body 
of people. Volumes are published to vent 
spleen, and make us a perfidious and rebellious 
people. To set us right? no, but to make 
people believe us in the wrong. Now, if we 
be of the church of Christ, what do such, 
but contend with a superior power ? To 
prevent our opposers from grieving you, I 
would declare to you, as the patriarch Jacob 
did to his children, how I came in the posses- 
sion of the privileges I desire you to hold firm 
and sacred, and hand them to future genera- 



88 

tions, in the same condition as we received 
them from Christ by Wesley. 

If it be asked, why our Society became a 
church? I answer, because a Society, as a 
Society only, hath not all the ordinances of 
Christ's church ; but when God raiseth a peo- 
ple, it is for himself, that they may show forth 
his praise by walking in all the commandments 
and ordinances of God blameless ; such as 
baptism, the supper of the Lord, &c. and as 
these things were always performed by his mi- 
nisters, ordained, or set apart for that purpose, 
after being called thereto, we having proved 
our call to ourselves, and to the world ; as mi- 
nisters, we saw our call clear from God, and 
our necessity to become a church in the United 
States. 

If it be asked, were there not churches 
enough before, to receive the ordinances from ? 
If there were, we did not know then with 
whom we could commune. As to the Society, 
or branch of the Church of England, they were 
nearly in the same predicament with ourselves, 
as already proved. As to the Mennonists, they 
were our enemies, except one of their bi- 
shops, Mr. Boehm ; and because he brought us 
bread and water, they turned him out of his 
bishopric. The Moravians found fault with us 



89 

for kneeling in prayer ; and if we went to them, 
we must learn of them, and enter a new course 
of life. If we went to the Anabaptists, we 
must renounce our infant baptism, and our 
principles, and believe their Antinomian doc- 
trine and discipline ; and then, I suppose, the 
Papists and others, would have found as much 
fault with us as now. Perhaps the Jews might 
not ; as they are fond of the doctrine of uncon- 
ditional election and reprobation, with all its 
train of notions. If we had gone to the Pa- 
pists for ordinance, they would have sent us on 
penance. Had we associated with Congrega- 
tionalists, we must have held Calvinism, and 
unsay all we had said, for orders, held nuga- 
tory by other denominations. If we had 
joined the Presbyterians, they would have 
taught us their decrees and covenants ; and 
we had not so learned Christ. These are 
some of the reasons why we became a distinct 
church in America. 

If it be asked, how we became a church? I 
answer, from the law of God and the law of 
necessity. 

God of his mercy gave the word, and great 
was the number of those who preached it, and 
great success attended it. Itinerating was our 
8 * 



90 

plan $ spiritual children professed to be born 
again, and we became a people. 

Now we find that some of the ablest Episco- 
pal ministers declare ordination to be valid, 
when God in his providence calls to it, and ne- 
cessity renders it impossible to avoid it, with- 
out sending the people away empty, and ceas- 
ing to be stewards of the household of faith. 
This being the true state of the case, what 
Christian man or minister dare find fault ; for 
Christians must have candour. Then, if can- 
dour is exercised, and any find fault, it must be 
for want of reading. To help such out of that 
difficulty, I have selected matter for the pur- 
pose of convincing them, and furnishing you 
with argument from unprejudiced and popular 
authors — from the Presbyterians and Church 
of England. 

Henry is a commentator much read and 
approved by the dissenters, to whom 1 have 
referred you for proof of our evangelical 
order. Hooker, Master of the Temple, in 
Queen Elizabeth's reign, wrote his " Eccle- 
siastical Politics," which was recommended by 
Charles II. as calculated to settle religious 
scruples. It has also been recommended as 
an oracle, by the Bishops of the Church of 



91 

England, as unanswerable, and calculated to 
put an end to controversy. 

To that book I refer you, when attacked by 
the Protestant Episcopalian, on the subject of 
our ordination, which they pretend to dispute, 
because not performed by a succession of 
bishops from the Church of Rome. 

" There may be sometimes very just and 
sufficient reason to allow ordination done with- 
out a bishop. The whole church visible be- 
ing the true subject of all power, it hath not 
originally allowed any other than bishops to 
ordain. Howbeit, as the ordinary course is 
ordinarily in all things to be observed, so it may 
not be unnecessary that we decline from the 
ordinary way ! Men may be in two ways ad- 
mitted into spiritual function in the church. 
One is, when God himself doth of himself raise 
up any, whose labours he useth, without re- 
quiring that man should authorize them. But 
then He doth ratify their calling, by manifest 
signs and tokens, himself from heaven ; and 
thus, even such as believed not our Saviour's 
teaching, did acknowledge him a lawful teacher, 
sent from God, for no man could do those things 
except God be with him, 

" Luther, therefore, did but reasonably, in 
declaring, that the Senate of Melhouse would 



92 

do well to ask Munser from whence he re- 
ceived power to teach ? and who called him ? 
And that if his answers were, that God had 
given him his charge ; then to require at his 
hands some evident signs thereof, for men's 
satisfaction. Because so God is wont to do, 
when He himself is author of any extraordinary 
calling. 

" Another extraordinary kind of vocation is, 
when exigence or necessity doth constrain to 
leave the usual ways of the church, which 
otherwise we would willingly keep. Where 
the church must needs have some ordained, 
and neither can possibly have a bishop to or- 
dain. In such case of necessity the ordinary 
institution of God hath given place oftentimes, 
and may give place. Therefore, we are not 
simply without exception, to urge a lineal 
descent of power from the apostles, by a con- 
tinued succession of bishops in every ordina- 
tion. 

" These causes of inevitable necessity ex- 
cepted, none may ordain but only bishops. By 
their imposition of hands it is, that the church 
giveth orders, both unto presbyters and dea- 
cons. Now, when that power is so received, 
as once to have any certain subject whereunto 
it may work, and whereunto it is to be tried 



93 



here cometh in the people's consent, and not 
before. 

" The power of ordination I may lawfully 
receive, without asking leave of the multitude ; 
but that power I cannot exert upon any certain 
people against their will." — 'Hooker's EccL Pol. 
Book 7. p. 403. 

This celebrated writer had the opinion of a 
majority of the conclave, over which Henry 
VIII. presided. — Bishop Burnet, Vol. I p. 201. 

On questions concerning sacraments, &c. 
with the answers of several bishops and learned 
men in council with king Henry VIII. 

Quest 9. Whether the apostles, not lack- 
ing a higher power, as in not having a Chris- 
tian king among them, made bishops by that 
necessity, or by authority given them by God ? 

Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury's answer. 
— In the apostles' time there were no Chris- 
tian princes, by whose authority ministers of 
God's word might be appointed, nor sin by 
the sword corrected. There was then no re- 
medy for the correction of vice, or appoint- 
ing of ministers, but only the consent of the 
Christian multitude among themselves, by & 
uniform consent to follow the advice and per- 
suasion of such person, as God had most en* 



94 



dowed with the spirit of counsel and wisdom. 
And, at that time, forasmuch as the Christian 
people had no sword nor governor amongst 
them, they were constrained of necessity, to 
take such curates and priests, as either they 
knew themselves to be meet thereunto, or else 
were recommended unto them by others, that 
were so replete with the Spirit of God, with 
such knowledge, in the possession of Christ, 
such wisdom, such conversation and counsel, 
that they ought even of very conscience to 
give credit unto them, and to accept such as 
by them were presented ; and, sometimes, the 
apostles and others, to whom God had 
given abundantly of his Spirit, sent, or ap- 
pointed ministers of God's word ; sometimes 
the people did choose such as they thought 
meet thereunto, and when any were appointed 
or sent by the apostles or others, the people 
of their own voluntary will, with thanks did 
accept them, as good people, ready to obey 
the advice of good counsellors, and to accept 
any thing that was necessary for their edifica- 
tion and benefit. 

To the ninth question, Bishop of York. — That 
their power to ordain bishops, priests, or dea- 
cons, by imposition of hands, requireth any 
other authority than the authority of God, we 



95 

neither read in scripture, nor out of scripture. 

Bishop of Rochester. — I think that the apos- 
tles made bishops by the authority given them 
from God. 

Quest. 1 1 . Whether any other but a bishop 
only may make a priest ? 

Ans. Cranmer 9 Archbishop of Canterbury. — We 
read that bishops have done so ; Christian em- 
perors and princes have usually done it ; and 
the people, before Christian princes were, com- 
monly did elect their bishops and priests. 

The Bishop of St. Davids' answer. — That lay- 
men have other whiles made priests. 

Dr. Egworth arid Dr. Redmond, answered. — 
Moses by privilege given him of God, made 
Aaron his brother a priest. 

Dr. Tresham, Dr. Crayford, Dr. Cox. — That 
laymen may make priests in time of necessity. 

Quest. 12. Whether in the New Testa- 
ment, be required any consecration of a bishop 
and priest ; or only appointing to office be suf- 
ficient ? 

Ans. Cranmer, Arxhbishop of Canterbury. — In 
the New Testament, he that is appointed to be 
a bishop or priest needeth no consecration by 
the scripture ; for election or appointing there- 
to is sufficient, 



96 

Quest. 13. Whether (if it fortuned a Chris- 
tian learned prince, to conquer a dominion, or 
country of infidels, having none but temporal 
learned men with him,) if it be defended by 
God's law, that he and they should preach, and 
teach the word of God there or not; and, also, 
make and consecrate priests or not ? 

Arts. Archbishop Cranmer. — It is not against 
God's law, but contrary ; they ought indeed, so 
to do ; and there be history that witnesseth 
that some Christian princes, and other laymen, 
unconsecrated, have done the same. 

Bishop of York. — We think that laymen, not 
ordained or ordered, not only may, but must 
preach Christ, and his faith, to infidels, as they 
shall see opportunity to do the same, and must 
endeavour themselves to win the miscreants to 
the kingdom of God, if they can ; for, as the 
wise man saith, God hath given charge to eve- 
ry one, of his neighbour ; and the scripture of 
truth chargeth every man to do all the good 
that he can, to all men : wherefore, in this 
every man and woman may be an evangelist, 
and of this we have examples. 

Bishop of Carlisle. — Christ may call as it 
pleaseth him, inwardly, outwardly, or beth to- 
gether ; so that, if no priest might be had, a 
Christian prince, with other learned men, in 



97 



wardly moved and called, might, most charita- 
bly and godlily, prosecute the same their call- 
ing in the most acceptable work, which is to 
bring people from the devil to God ; from in- 
fidelity to the true faith, by whatsoever means 
God shall inspire. 

Dr. Cox. — It is not against God's law, that 
the princes, and their learned temporal men, 
may preach and teach, and in these cases of ex- 
treme necessity make and institute ministers. 

Dr. Day. — In this case, as I think, the prince 
and other temporal learned men, may, by 
God's law, teach and preach the word of God, 
and baptize ; and also, the same necessity 
standing, elect and appoint men to those offices. 

The Bishop of St. Davids, the Bishop of 
Westminster, with Dr. Tresham, Dr. Cox, 
Dr. Day, Dr. Leighton, Dr. Crayford, Dr. Sym- 
mons, Dr. Redmon, Dr. Robertson, say that 
laymen in such cases have authority to minister 
the sacraments, and to make priests. 

Quest. 14. Whether it be forefounded 
by God's law, that if it so fortuned that 
all the bishops and priests of a religion 
were dead, and that the word of God should 
remain there unpreached, and the sacra- 
ment of baptism and others unministered, 
that the king of that religion should make bi- 
9 



98 

shops and priests to supply the same or no ? 

Ans. Archbishop Cranmer. — It is not forbid- 
den by God's law. 

Dr. Coren. — God will never suffer his ser- 
vants to lack that thing that is necessary : For 
there should, either from other parts, priests 
and bishops be called together thither, or else 
God would call inwardly, some of them that be 
in that religion, to be bishops and priests. 

Bishop of . — Ut supra Qucest. 1. Sent 

by the apostles', as Christ sent them. 

Bishop of Rochester. — Ut supra Qucest. — 
2. Lot. 

Dr. Cox. — Ut supra Qucest. 3. The dictate 
of the Holy Ghost, immediately or mediately. 

These learned and great men all agree to 
what 1 have urged in my apology ; viz. Neces- 
sitas, non habet Legem. — By these questions and 
answers we may see what candour and upright- 
ness these great, good men possessed ; as well 
as integrity. With their views of church go- 
vernment in its first simplicity, which simpli- 
city they would have preferred, if it had been 
in their power, but the times rendered it ne- 
cessary to cover themselves under the protec- 
tion of the civil power, which tempted them to 
court this power, as may be seen in many of 
their answers. Also, the suggestion for a re- 



99 



formation of their reformation, when times 
more favourable should oifer. A partial reform 
took place in that church in the days of Ed- 
ward the VI. another under Queen Elizabeth, 
all which did not reach the apostolic simplicity ; 
nor ever can, while the two interests are joined. 
A worldly policy and a heavenly discipline and 
doctrine never can coalesce, no more than a 
servant can serve two masters. Under these 
difficulties, the visible church laboured from 
the time that she asked the civil sword, to put 
down Paul of Samoratia, Bishop of Antioch. 
The civil power thought if they called for the 
sword in their time, the sword should awe them 
at all times. From thence young Christian men 
were permitted to enter the army, and not be- 
fore ; so he that taketh the sword shall bear the 
sword. This happened in the year of our 
Lord, 250. 

The true church fled into the wilderness, in- 
to mountains and caves, to enjoy the pure 
unadulterated doctrine of justification by faith, 
salvation by grace, sanctification by the Spirit. 
See Mr. Wesley's journey to Hurnhurth; his 
acount of Christian David, and other founders 
of that town, with the history of the people 
called Moravians, which are now a seed in 
Germany to keep up the pure religion of the 



100 

Redeemer ; having no sword to protect them, 
nor to give them bishops or priests, they have 
them according to Cranmer's account of the 
Christians, when they had no Christian prince 
or worldly governor. 

No country hath been favourable to the for- 
mation of a pure churchy for twelve hundred 
years, till the government of the United States 
gave the broad iving of protection to such as 
might wish to live apostolic days over again ; 
and to make all the reform necessary to orna- 
ment the church of Christ. 

The people called Methodists availed them- 
selves of the favourable opportunity, being 
pressed into it by that necessity which has no 
law. Finding rest to be glorious, we have de- 
sired to dwell in it. As was the glory of the 
apostles., so the glory of our founders in Ame- 
rica, the success of our Prince Emmanuel ; the 
words of the Spirit our sword, the appointment 
of God our apostle, our evangelists our 
priests and deacons, and our Zion the church 
of Christ, the called of God, called out of the 
world's service, into the vineyard of Christ, to 
labour and suffer. 

This is the true origin of our church; by 
a glowing zealous ministry, to preach God's 
word by the Holy Ghost sent down from hea- 



101 

ven. Sa holy men of old spake, as the Spirit 
gave utterance, and with utterance conquest ; 
not with garments rolled in blood, but with 
burning and fuel of fire. 

John Wesley's conduct in employing laymen 
to preach without ordaining them, in England, 
where the law opposed it, and his advice to 
his children in America, to organize into a re- 
gular church, (for which there was imperious 
necessity, corroborated by the voice of God,) 
had the opinion of all great and good men for 
support. But it may be, some will say, as a 
last resort, whereby to offer reason for perse- 
cution and objection, were there not ministers 
enough regularly ordained, to serve the people 
with ordinances, and to take the pastoral charge 
of them, without constituting a new church ? 
Not in the United States, at the time when the 
Evangelical Church was formed. No bishop 
or elder was ordained for nearly fifteen thou- 
sand adults, who had submitted to Wesley's 
rules ; and who, among other things, required 
attention to all the ordinances. Now had 
these good people been all in one parish, there 
was not a man to serve them with the ordinan- 
ces. I knew of but two in the United States, 
that were friendly, and there was nothing to be 
expected from them, as they were fixed in their 
9* 



102 

parishes, and there must stay. The Society 
of Methodists^ as they were called, lay scat- 
tered through a thinly inhabited country of one 
thousand miles in length, and from four to five 
hundred in breadth, by twelve and twenty in a 
neighbourhood or village. 

Here pause, and turn to Archbishop Cranmer, 
and to King Henry the Eighth. Read over the 
passage cited from Hooker. There was no 
bishop in America in the sense the Church of 
England holds that office ; neither a regularly 
organized church, if Doctor Chandler's notion 
of episcopacy be correct. He solicited a bishop 
to be sent over to the parliamentary societies 
in America, in the year 1767, being only organ- 
ized under presbyters, having no confirmation 
nor convocation. But he asked a bishop dif- 
ferent from the Church in England, to have 
care of the spiritual in a separate way. [See 
Chandler.] In England the authority of 
the established church is but a lay autho- 
rity, and from that lay authority the bishops 
derived all their power, as may be seen 
by consulting the form of a bishop's cre- 
dentials, as taken out under King Henry the 
Eighth. " Since all jurisdiction, both ecclesi- 
astical and civil, floweth from the king as su- 
preme head, and he is the foundation of all 



103 

power, it became those who exercised it at the 
king's courtesy, gratefully to acknowledge that 
they had it only by his bounty, and to declare 
that they would deliver it up again, should it 
please him to call for it." — Burners Hist* vol. 
I. p. 267. 

Such was the license received by John Sc6- 
rey, one of the king's suffragans, who was the 
only one who had a shade of bishop's authori* 
ty belonging to the Church of England, w T hen 
Queen Elizabeth undertook to re-establish that 
church,and ordered the consecration of Matthew 
Parke. Though she twice called a convoca- 
tion, no regular bishop appeared, except Llan- 
daff.* So that it doth evidently appear, that the 

* Mr. Mason, in his book of the consecration of Eng- 
lish bishops, in his appendix, relates, from Sucrobosco — 
" In the beginning" of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
a Sectary Bishop was chosen. The candidates convened 
at London, at the sign of the Nag's Head, a certain inn 
in Cheapside, and with them the bishop of Llandaff, a 
simple old man, for the purpose of making" them bishops. 
When Bishop Bonner, then deacon of the bishops of 
England, heard this, he sent from the Tower of London 
(where he was confined on account of religion) to the 
bishop of Llandaff, that he should prohibit the ordination 
of new candidates in his diocese, under pain of excom- 
munication. Terrified by this threat, he refused bis as- 
sistance in the ordination. At this, the candidates were 
enraged; rejected the bishop of Llandaff, and entered 
©n a new line of conduct. Scorey, counterfeit bishop of 



104 

hierarchy of the Church of England grew out 
of lay or Presbyterial ordination at best. The 

Hertford, laid his hand on the others, and they, in their 
turn, laid their hands on him ; and it was enjoined, in 
their meetings, that these men should be legitimate 



Dr. Champany sets this consecration thus — " At the 
Nag's Head, in Cheapside, by accorded appointment, 
met all those who were nominated to bishopricks: 
thither came also the old bishop of Llandaff to make 
them bishops ; which being known to Dr. Bonner, bishop 
of London, then prisoner, he sent to the bishop of Llan- 
daff, forbidding him, under pain of excommunication, to 
exercise any such power, within his diocese, as to ordain 
those men : wherewith the old bishop being terrified, 
also moved in his own conscience, refused to proceed 
with that action; alleging, chiefly, for reason of forbear- 
ance, his want of sight; which excuse they interpreted 
to be but an evasion, and were much moved against the 
poor old man. And whereas, hitherto, they had used 
him with all courtesy and respect, they changed their 
course, reviling him, and calling him a doting fool, and 
saying, this old fool thinks we cannot be bishops unless 
we be greased ; disgracing him as well as the Catholic 
manner of episcopal consecration. 

" Being thus disappointed in their expectation, and hav- 
ing no other means of coming to their desire, they re- 
solved to use Master Scorey's help, who, having borne 
the name of bishop in King Edward's time, was thought 
to htxve sufficient power to perform that office, especial- 
ly in such straits of necessity. He, having cast off, 
with his religious habits, all scruples of conscience, wil- 
lingly went about the waiter, which he performed in 



105 

call of God and necessity could only make it 
valid. Yet, lame and imperfect as it may ap- 
pear to some, our father Wesley, from his at- 
tachment to it, went farther than he need to 
have gone to give weight to that interest, inas- 
much as it wanted reformation in several points, 

this sort: having the bible in his hand, and they all 
kneeling before him, he laid it upon every orie of their 
heads or shoulders, saying, take thou authority to preach 
the word of God sincerely; and so they rose up 
bishops. 

" This whole narration, without adding or detracting 
any word pertaining to the matter, I have heard, oftener 
than once, from Mr. Thomas Bluet, a grave, learned, and 
judicious priest ; he having received it from Mr. Neal, a 
man of good sort and respectability, some time reader 
of the Hebrew lectures in Oxford; but, when this matter 
passed, was belonging to Bishop Bonner's diocese, and 
sent by him to deliver the message before-mentioned, 
to the bishop of LlandaflT, and withal to attend there to 
see the end of the business. Again, Mr. Bluet had other 
good means to be informed of this matter, being a long 
time prisoner with Dr. Watson, bishop of Lincoln, and 
other men of note, of the ancient clergy, in whose time, 
and in whose sight, as one may say, this matter was 
done. This was related to me by Mr. Bluet, in Wis- 
beach Castle." Thus Dr. Champany, in his treatise on 
the Vacation of Bishops, pp. 164, 195. 

Mr. Mason himself, in his appeud'rx above named, 
gives also a relation of this business, in the preface of a 
book called " A Discussion," Numb. 135, where that au- 
thor writes against Mr. Jewil. 



106 

especially in that of the power of discipline be- 
ing in the hands of civilians or lawyers, and not 
with the minister. — (Burnet's Hist.) 

Wesley desired that a few of his itinerant 
preachers might be ordained, and sent over to 
our help, who were in some sort fitted for our 
circuit labours ; I say, in someway fitted, for 
such was the labour of some of our circuits, 
that few of the preachers in England would 
have been willing to have undertaken them. 
But the mitred heads and parliament of Great 
Britain did not choose to send help to rebels ; 
therefore they refused him, as they did Doctor 
Sealbury afterwards. — All hopes failed us from 
that quarter. I am now thankful for that, and 
think it a favour that we did not obtain help in 
that way, God having provided a more aposto- 
lic plan, according to his holy word. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church now in the 
States^ was not organized till after the church 
of the Methodists was formed, and recognized 
in the United States by the first characters. 

Now, which is the wanton schismatic ? that 
church formed at the voice of God, the people, 
and of necessity first, or that formed in after- 
time, from mere prejudice of education, which 
heretically can omit the name of the adorable 
Trinity, in setting apart the highest order 
in the church ? And if baptism, performed by 



107 

the sect which used to do it in the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, was heretical 
and null, what must that consecration be, per- 
formed all in the name of the bishop, who could 
preach a whole sermon without naming Christ ? 
Let that celebrated author, who has called the 
Methodists a set of the most wanton schismatics 
that ever disgraced a Christian church, judge. 

Nevertheless, the charge of vanity has been 
brought against our whole body, and is still 
brought, to the grief of our people, the disgrace 
of our ministry, and to the dishonour of our 
Gospel. But on due reflection, after informal 
tion on this subject is sufficiently given, who 
can reordain a man who had been ordained by 
our evangelist, or superintendent, without 
breach of order ? Or who receive reordination 
and be innocent ? For as it is deemed a sacri- 
legious act to repeat a valid baptism, so to re- 
ceive reordination, when previously performed 
by proper authority, is also a sacrilegious re- 
nunciation of all former dedication. Whereas, 
the ministerial dedication is for life, and not for 
trial ! 

2dly. It is to take the name of God in vain. 

3dly. It is to promise and renounce, and pro- 
mise again. 

4thly. It tendeth to make people renounce 
their baptism and all ministerial administration. 



10S 

5thly. It encourageth pride and usurpation. 

6thly. It sets the church at war with herself. 

All these evils are produced under the pre- 
tence of doing good ; all this wrong with a 
zeal, a pretended zeal, to do right; and shall 
so much evil be done that good may come ? 
God forbid. 

Of these sorts are the oppositions mostly, or 
nearly all. 

From the beginning, plausibility for an ex- 
cuse secretly to set the true cause of Christ at 
naught — then to persecute more openly, or to 
neglect with impunity, all the ordinances of 
God's house ; it was said, He deceiveth the 
people.— He was against Moses and Caesar, 
for whom they pretended to be great advo- 
cates ; and for fear the people should be de- 
ceived, they said, He had a devil, and the like ! 

So now Papist, Quaker, Anti-pedo-baptist, 
Independent, and King Henry's Episcopalians 
reformed, all cry out false prophets — the lo 
heres and lo theres are come — are to come : 
and the Methodists are the very people, who, 
if it were possible, would deceive the very 
elect. But let us all come out in fair sunshine 
to the testimony of God, who maketh w ise the 
simple. 

If Wesley's doctrine, as believed and prac- 
tised by his successors, be according to truth; 



109 

we will fear no reproaches from small or great j 
we will say with John -Wesley in his last mo- 
ments, " The best of all is, God is with us." 

Seeing that the general doctrines and ordi- 
nation of our evangelical church, as taught by 
Wesley, are apostolic. I now proceed to 
prove that our particular doctrines are also 
divine. 

1. The fall of man is a doctrine ever 
urged ; total depravity ; no good in man by na- 
ture. — (See Wesley's Notes on New Testa- 
ment, and his Sermons, with his Answer to Dr. 
Taylor — See also Articles of Religion as recom- 
mended by him, and approved by all our mi- 
nisters.) 

Art. Original, or birth-sin, &x. 

No innate idea of God, no good desire at all 
but from the grace of God, preceding or going 
before ; no tears of contrition ; no fruits of the 
lips ; no thoughts of peace, till God saith, 
peace to them that are afar off, and to them 
that are nigh ; by which justification is brought 
about. 

A second special doctrine insisted on by 
us, and as received from Wesley. — 1. Justifi- 
cation virtually in Christ. — " Behold the Lamb 
of God who taketh away the sin of the world. 
Suffer little children to come unto me, for of 
10 



110 

such is the kingdom of heaven." — 2. Justifica- 
tion actually, which is preceded by. repentance 
as a condition of the covenant on man's part 
to obtain actual justification. — The apostles 
went out and preached repentance towards 
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. — 
Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted ' out, when the 
time of refreshing shall come from the pre- 
sence of the Lord — Faith, in its different de- 
grees, is begotten, through the word preached, 
by the Holy Comforter, which inspires men to 
spread the fame of the Lord God. By hearing an 
implicit belief is produced in a candid mind ; and 
may be called the faith of adherence ; which 
causcth the person that receiveth it, to make 
further search ; as Nathaniel, who, on hear- 
ing, went to see ; and Bartemius, who laid 
himself in the way ; and from the savour of his 
name, which is as ointment poured forth, the 
faith of reliance is produced in the sin-sick 
soul. Like that perceivable in the woman, who 
said, " If I may but touch the hem of his gar- 
ment, I shall be made whole. — If thou wilt, 
thou canst make me clean." 

A third degree of faith is produced in the 
soul, by the power and immediate gift of God 
the Holy Ghost ; namely, the faith of assu- 
rance ; by which the soul knoweth that life 



Ill 

from Christ, who is the life, is communicated ; 
and the sinner knoweth that his sins are for- 
given. With, and in this divine truth, the 
soul is made lo rejoice, and all the affections 
turned quite round. This is conversion, with 
the church of America — A change from death 
unto life ; from the power of Satan unto God. 
This makes, what is called by Wesley, a 
Methodist. This he insists on being attained 
at once, and not by degrees; of course the 
time and place are generally known by all 
who receive it. 

On this subject, Ambrose speaks thus; U »I 
dare not say, all sins past, present, and to 
come, are pardoned at once; but I may say, 
that justification, properly so called, is wrought 
at once. If you would ask, how at once ? I 
answer, with the Rev. Dr. Downham, at once, as 
excluding degrees. Our justification is per- 
fect at first, as well as at last. Our justification, 
is one continued act from our vocation to our 
glorification." Bishop Downham on justification* 

So the learned Burges, " At once, as con- 
noting a state we are put into upon our be- 
lieving, all our sins, past and present, once ac- 
tually pardoned; and this favour received, is 
a pledge of assurance, that in future, also, by 
applying ourselves to Christ, we may and shall 



112 

receive forgiveness of our daily sins ; and that 
at the last day, we shall at once be absolved 
from accusations and charges laid in against us : 
and doth connote a state, that the subject at 
his first believing was put into; viz. a state 
of grace, and favour, and reconciliation with 
God." Ambrose's Media, p, 2. 

The merits of Him who was wounded for 
our transgression, who was bruised for our in- 
iquity, is the procuring or instrumental cause ; 
and the Holy Ghost the efficient cause, who 
convinceth of righteousness ; Christ the head, 
first, virtually, secondly, actively, (or rela- 
tively and really,) relatively in baptism, and 
really in regeneration by the Koly Spirit. 

Wesley insisted on living justified daily. He 
was found great fault with for saying, " we 
are every moment pleasing or displeasing to 
God." The apostle Paul has said, " Study 
to show thyself approved of God." Christ 
said, " Be always ready." The apostle John, 
" He that doeth righteousness, is righteous," 
&c. To live as sons of God, without rebuke, 
in the midst of a crooked and perverse gene- 
ration; to be harmless and blameless ; to glo- 
rify our heavenly Father, by letting our light 
shine. Would any neglect in these things, be 
pleasing to God? If not, to neglect them would 



113 

be to displease him ; or, in scripture language, 
it may grieve the Holy Spirit. We must there- 
fore be pleasing or displeasing every moment. 

The doctrine of habitual justification was a 
particular doctrine with Mr. Wesley, and his 
followers : the abiding witness of the Holy 
Spirit; for which we have the authority of 
the adorable Jesus. If ye love me, keep my 
commandments, and my Father will love you ; 
and we will come and make our abode with you. 
The Apostle Paul, after ye believed, ye were 
sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise ^ which 
is the earnest of the promised possession. By 
this the soul is brought to love God with a 
perfect love. 

Another particular doctrine in our church 
is, the perfect love of God that casteth out 
fear ; a doctrine of the apostolic church, well 
known by St. John, and all his fellow-labour- 
ers. This, Wesley called Christain perfec- 
tion ; a blessing not only to be talked of as 
an opinion, but attainable in this life, to qua- 
lify us for this life of suffering, and that life of 
joy which is to come. This doctrine has 
a place in all the writings of the reformers, 
which are of any celebrity. It has a place 
in all their lectures and sermons. Still 



10' 



114 

it is denied by some ; doubted by others ; 
understood by few, and experienced by 
fewer still. The Low Dutch Church has it 
in a body of divinity, which, I believe, all 
their ministers have to study ; namely, Witsius 
en the Economy of the Covenants. His words are 
as follow, on the doctrine of sanctification. 

u A new and gracious light shines upon the 
understanding : the eyes of the mind are en- 
lightened, by which he sees divine truth, not 
under false and confused ideas, but in their 
nature, form, and beauty, so that the sancti- 
fied person really beholds in those truths the 
manifold wisdom of God, the depths of his 
perfection, and the unsearchable riches of 
Christ. Nor does he see them only ; but, 
in a manner not to be expressed ; feels them 
penetrating themselves into his inmost heart . 
embracing them with a glowing affection of 
piety; exults and desires that which is truth 
in Christ, may be also truth in him; and that 
he may be modelled into the likeness of 
those truths ; and cast, as it were, into the 
very shape of them. In fine, that knowledge 
of God, which fluttereth not in the brain only, 
but bringeth forth every good works. 

" Moreover, that holy disposition of soul 
communicates to all the members of the body, 



115 

which being before instruments of unrighteous- 
ness unto sin, are now instruments of righte- 
ousness unto God. In a sanctified person, the 
eyes, the tongue, the ears, the hands, and the 
feet, are far from giving the least occasion to 
entice or disturb the mind; but all of them are 
ready and inclined to obey God ; to whom they 
yield, in order to the practice of righteousness, 
and as weapons by which the kingdom of Satan 
may be strongly opposed. For, so long as the 
most eminent virtues be concealed in the in- 
most recesses of the mind, they cannot edify 
our neighbours, and gain them over from sin 
to holiness ; but when they are exercised by 
the members of the body ; when the tongue 
lays itself out in the praises of God, and in 
the commendation of holiness ; his hands and 
feet in assisting his neighbour ; and the other 
parts of the body according to their several 
capacities, in the practice of religion ; it is 
then he fights manfully for extirpating vice, and 
promoting virtue. 

" From all this, it is now evident, that when 
the new man, no less than the old, possesses 
both soul and body. The whole man is sancti- 
fied, when the spirit shall think nothing, the 
soul desire nothing, the body execute nothing, 
but what is the will of God." 



116 

5< Sanctification in the order follows adoption. 
No sooner are we sons, than we receive the 
linage of our heavenly Father. In sanctifica- 
tion, the Spirit works in us a principle of spi- 
ritual life. The Scripture sometimes calls it 
a seed; sometimes a spring, or fountain; some- 
times the life of Christ; because it is conveyed 
unto us by the Spirit of Christ, by means of 
our union with Christ. We may not conceive 
k to be a new faculty, added to those which are 
in men by nature, but an improvement of those 
abilities, to work spiritually, as they did natu- 
rally before regeneration. Hence it is, that a 
regenerate man in Scripture is said to walk af- 
ter the Spirit ; to be led by the Spirit ; to walk 
in the Spirit. From this fountain spring all 
these habits of spiritual grace ; these habits 
abiding in us, produce and support spiritual 
life ; enabling thg subject to say, what interest 
hath this empty world in me ? What is there 
in it that may seem so lovely, as to entice my 
desires and delight from Christ ? or make me 
loath to come away? I can look about me 
with an undeceived eye ; and think the world 
a howling wilderness; and most of its inhabi- 
tants untamed hideous monsters. Its beauty 
I can wink into blackness, I can think its mirth 



117 

into sadness ; and the wind of a sigh will scat- 
ter them away, according to the experience of 
the faithful.* First, This is our glory and 
beauty, even glorification begun. What 
greater glory than to be like unto God ? We 

*Here I shall give you some account of its effects in 
our late brother Benjamin Abbott. From hisjown mouth 
I had it. 

" After I had experienced the knowledge of justifica- 
tion, I began to hold prayer-meetings, and exhort my 
neighbours in Salem county) but I found a desire still 
with me for spirituous liquor so strong, that I could 
scarce pass a tavern without taking a small glass; and 
while the taste of that was With me, I could feel very 
little, or none of the Holy Spirit with me. Iwas fear- 
ful, that though I had government enough of myself to 
keep from getting drunk ; yet, that I should one day 
fall by the hand of that enemy. Still the besetment was 
there. I read in Scripture that one kind of devil went 
out by prayer and fastiug only. I set apart a day in my 
mind to fast and pray, that it might be taken away. I 
observed it strictly. It was a day of peace to my soul, 
but as to the success, I was not able to tell, as there was 
no immediate temptation before me. But the next time 
I saw the old enemy of my soul, my very stomach rose 
against it, and I gagged as though I had taken an emetic^ 
and never, from that day to this, has ever a spoonful 
gone over my tongue; which is more than twenty years, 
and I hope never will." 

This makes good the comment of Grotius, on Luke i, 
80. "The Holy Spirit loves dry hearts." 



118 

are changed into the same image from glory to 
glory. Every degree of grace is glory ; and 
the perfection of glory in heaven, consists 
chiefly in the perfection of grace. 

" Second, This will make us fit for God's use. 
A filthy unclean vessel, is good for nothing till 
cleansed. A man must first purge himself, 
and then shall he be a vessel unto honour, 
sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and 
prepared unto every good work. 

" 3. By sanctification, we have a most sweet 
and comfortable evidence of our justification. 
Nor is this a running upon the covenant of 
works. Is not sanctification the writing the law 
in our hearts, and a privilege of the covenant 
of grace, as well as justification ? And can the 
evidence of one thing by another, be running 
upon the covenant of works ? O consider, how 
many evangelical promises are made to persons 
invested with such and such graces ; as of po- 
verty, mourning, meekness; and to what end, 
but that every one may take and be assured of 
his portion manifested therein ? Surely, none 
are justified, if not sanctified in part ; or, if not 
sanctified in part, they are not justified." (Am- 
brose's Media, page 12.) 

What language can be stronger in favour of 
a sinless life and conversation, than the above 



119 

quotations ? What fault can any person find 
with the scriptural doctrine of Christian perfec- 
tion, as preached hy Mr. Wesley, and held by 
our church? 

But the excellence of this doctrine is, that it 
is to be experienced and practised, as well as 
taught by theory. 1st. It is to be experienced. 
Now, to experience, is to know, and to know is 
to have a witness. It has been doubted if there 
was any direct witness of sanctification spoken 
of in scripture; that is, by which a man may 
know of his sanctification clearly. This I con- 
sider as a particular tenet of the Methodists, 
both in England and America. So of St. Paul 
and all the Apostles. — As soon as Paul met cer- 
tain brethren who had espoused the cause of 
Christ, preached and belonged to the church, 
he said, " Have ye received the Holy Ghost 
since ye believed ?" Now, according to scrip- 
ture, he that believeth in Christ, is justified 
from all things. Certainly, these men had ex- 
perienced a change of heart, if the method of 
certain denominations are to be considered 
apostolic — " no admission into church fellow- 
ship till experience is had." Xhese men were 
disciples, on whom, when Paul laid his hand, 
the Holy Ghost came, and they spake with 
tongues and prophesied. Who knew that the 



120 

Holy Ghost came upon them? themselves, or 
the Apostles ? or both? Certainly, the receiv- 
ers; or all of them would have been without cer- 
tainty, and it would be but implicit faith, and 
not an experimental knowledge. 

It would appear that Timothy also received 
the gift by laying on of the Apostle's hands ; for 
he desired him to stir it up ; and reminded him 
of the time of his receiving it. 

The ancient seers also, tell of the year and 
month, and day of the month, when the Spirit 
came upon them, and set them apart for Gpd 
and his work. Isaiah vi. 1. " In the year that 
king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting 
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train 
filled the temple," &c. Ver. 6, 7. « Then flew 
one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal 
in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs 
from off the altar ; and he laid it upon my mouth, 
and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and 
thine iniquity is taken away ; thy sin is pur- 
ged." 

Jeremiah tells the time of his access to God, 
and receiving the Spirit for the work of a 
prophet ; chap ; i. 4. " The word of the Lord 
came unto me," &c. Ver. 5. " / sanctified 
thee ; and I ordained thee." 

Also Ezekiel, chap. iii. 16, 17. " And it 



121 

came to pass at the end of seven days, the word 
of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, 
I have made thee a watchman unto the house 
of Israel." 

Each of the prophets preface their works 
with the knowledge of being set apart for it by 
a direct witness of the Spirit of God ; with time 
and place : all which is a direct testimony of 
sanctification being a work of the Spirit, in ad- 
dition to justification by faith. 

Ambrose said, The immediate work of the 
Spirit is in a way of peculiarity and transcen- 
dency; and is called by the apostle, the wit- 
ness of the Spirit. " We receive not the spirit 
of the w r orld, but the Spirit of God ; that we 
may know the things which are freely given us 
of God." Otherwise, the things freely given 
us, may be received by us ; and yet the receipt 
be unknown to us ; therefore the Spirit, for 
our further consolation, doth, as it were, put 
his hand and seal unto our receipt ; whence he 
is said to seal us unto the day of redemption. 

But Dr. Crisp and his followers say, " There 
is no more evidence, save only the revealing 
evidence, and the receiving evidence, which is 
faith : the Spirit within thee saith, thy sins are 
forgiven thee ; and faith receives it, and sits 
down satisfied. Now here are thy evidences. 
11 



122 

If thou hast only these two, thou hast thy poi- 
tion ; thou needest no more." (Dr. Crisp's 
Asser. Faith.) 

In this way, what profane person is there in 
the world, which may not conclude for him- 
self, if he will but force upon himself this per- 
suasion, " The Spirit saith it in the word, and 
I believe it." This revealing and this receiv- 
ing evidence ; that is, the word of the Spirit, 
and the subscription of faith, do not lay the 
ground of perfect peace, except there comes in 
also the evidence of inherent qualification. 
For the evidence of the Spirit is mediate, when 
it enables the soul to frame determinations, to 
regard conscience ; immediate, when, without 
any such determination of conscience, our 
spirit is merely passive or receptive. It is an 
act of irradiation, or impression of God's love; 
or a transcript of the seal of God set upon the 
conscience. And as the Scripture saith, " He 
that repenteth and believeth, shall be saved;" 
and " they that are led by the Spirit are the 
sons of God." Hereupon the sanctified soul 
saith, " I do repent, and believe : I am led by 
the Spirit; therefore I am a child of God." 
This is confirmed by an heavenly impression ; 
an irradiation upon the soul. So that he may 
not doubt ; because both speak according to the 



123 

word, and work of grace in the heart. This 1a 
an attestation, a secondary, not a first depo- 
nent; concluded from Rom. viii. 16. " The 
Spirit witnesseth with our spirit, that we are 
the sons of God." Of these two witnesses, 
our received conscience is the first ; the Spirit 
of God is the second. By being faithful to 
ourselves, we may be assured we are not mis- 
led by the suggestions of Satan ; but guided by 
the Spirit in this point of experience ; and say, 
this is the Spirit of God, for it speaks according 
to the word, and according to the work of grace 
in me. So the Homilies of the Church of 
England speak, " Good men feel in them God's 
holy Spirit, working," &x. The advantage of 
such a witness is well described by Baxter, in 
his Saint*' Rest, p. 177—179. " The very 
knowledge itself is naturally desirable. Every 
man would fain know things to come, especially 
concerning himself. Nebuchadnezzar wor- 
shipped Daniel, because he told him things to 
come. If ever God bestoweth this blessing, 
thou wilt think thyself the happiest man on 
earth ; and feel that it is not a notion or empty 
imagination. For what sweet thoughts w T ilt 
thou have of God ? All that greatness, jea- 
lousy, and justice, which is a terror to others, 
will be matter of encouragement to thee. How 



124 

sweet will every thought of Christ, and the 
blood he hath shed, be to thee. Every passage 
in the word of God will then afford thee com- 
fort. Then wilt thou cry with David, " How 
I love thy law ! It is sweeter than honey, 
more precious than gold/' &c. And with Lu- 
ther, " That thou wilt not take all the world 
for one leaf of the Bible." 

" What boldness and comfort may est thou 
have in prayer ? When thou canst say our 
Father, in full assurance ; and knowest thou 
art welcome and accepted through Christ, and 
hast a promise to be heard whenever thou 
askest ; especially when the case is weighty, 
and thy necessity great. 

" This assurance will give the sacrament a 
sweet relish to thy soul, and make it refreshing 
indeed. — It will multiply the sweetness of 
every mercy thou receivest ; when thou art 
sure all proceeds from love. — How comforta- 
ble mayest thou undergo every affliction ! All 
things work for good. This assurance or wit- 
ness will sweeten to thee the sore thoughts of 
death ; and make thy heart glad to think of 
that entrance into joy. When men who have 
not this witness must die with horror — Christ 
will sweeten thv fore-thoughts of judgment, 



125 

when sure it will be thy day of absolution and 
coronation. Yea, the very thoughts of hell 
will be matter of consolation, when thou hast a 
witness that thou art saved from it. The fore- 
thoughts of heaven also will be more incom- 
parably delightful, when thou art certain that 
it is the place of thine everlasting abode. — 
It will make thee exceeding strong in the work 
of the Lord. — It will make thee more profita- 
ble to others, and most cheerful to encourage 
others from thine own experience ; to refresh 
the weary and strengthen the weak, and speak 
a word of comfort to the troubled soul. This 
assurance will put life into all thy affections. — 
It will inflame thy soul with love to God, when 
thou once knowest thy relation to him, and how 
tenderly He is affected towards thee. — It will 
quicken thy desire after him, when thou once 
knowest of thy interest in him. — It is the most 
excellent fountain of continual joys and re- 
joicing. — !t will exceedingly tend to thy perse- 
verance. This witness of the Spirit will make 
thy life a kind of heaven on earth." 

These are the fruits of the Spirit, the Com- 
forter promised to the church by its glorious 
Head, who watereth it every moment, andkeep- 

U * 



126 

€th it day and night. This the pillar and ground 
of the truth, heaven's private seal. From this 
impression all good doth appear which is seen 
on earth. 

But how are we to obtain the blessijngs of 
justification, adoption, and sanctification ? Are 
we to seek it ? or does it come unsought and 
unprevented ? The whole tribe of Antinomi- 
ans have learned, and do teach men so. The 
Quaker will tell you, that prayer, with all the 
ordinances of the church, are vain. One who 
has been a preacher among them upwards of 
twenty years, to my knowledge, told his hearers 
in Westchester county, that he never prayed 
vocally but once in his life, and did not expect 
ever to pray again ! 

The Hopkinsians, or new-divinity-men, 
wherever they are, will tell poor sinners, that 
they must love God without motives ; or be- 
ing as they are in the scale of beings, this love, 
they have not, and they will be damned for ever 
without it ; and it is sinful to pray for it. That 
though Christ had died for all, and all may 
come if they will, yet there be some who cannot 
come, and Christ will not help them ; and that 
such as do come, are forced into all the pri- 
vileges and disposition of the qrospel. and 



127 

brought to heaven without their care or con- 
cern. I will, and you shall, is the gospel with 
them. My friends, come not into their se- 
crets, and to their assemblies be not united. 

To calumniate the President of the United 
States is blameworthy ; but to propagate a 
falsehood on God is to take part with hell. 

To spoil the bread, and pollute the water, 
designed for refreshing the weary and heavy- 
laden, is to introduce death in the midst of life, 
But to the pure fountain let me advise you to 
resort ; to Christ — to his apostles ; notwithstand- 
ing what the Quaker preacher, already spoken 
of, said of the apostle Peter, " poor Peter, 
blind and ignorant." Now the adorable Jesus 
taught sinners to pray ; to ask, that they might 
receive ; to seek, that they might find ; not 
because they had found. The publican went 
up into the temple to pray; (happy for him 
that he did not meet a Quaker, nor a new-di- 
vinity-man, or they would have turned him 
back till he was justified,) but he prayed before 
justification ; and he went down justified. 

Now Wesley taught men to work for life, as 
well as from life. So all the Puritan divines, 
according to their writings, impressed on their 
hearers. So the Church of England, and 



128 

French protestants, with the German Reform- 
ers, all unite in urging sinners to seek that they 
may find ; to knock at mercy's door, that it may 
be opened. And God has said, " I will not say 
to the seed of Jacob, seek ye my face in vain." 
So the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, may be obtained by seeking ; not for 
seeking. This doctrine discards all pretence 
to merit on the sinner's part ; except that of de- 
siring, working, and receiving by faith ; and 
gives all the glory of mercy, and merit, to 
Christ. By the hand the beggar received an 
eagle from the treasury, for the order of one 
who has a claim. Now the holy Jesus has all 
power and fulness. Of his fulness we are made 
partakers of grace here, and glory hereafter. 
So from the beginning of desire to the consum- 
mation of grace and glory in us, is of his merit 
and mercy. But, for all this thing will he be 
sought unto, that he should do it for us. There- 
fore, without striving, there is no entrance ; 
and with striving in the appointed means law- 
fully, we are sure of success, to the praise of 
his glorious grace. 

Sincerity, as far as a person can act, must be 
with him ; and sincere, said an ancient author, 
we may be, if nothing else : and God accepts 



129 

that in every degree, when aiming at his plea 
sure. 

Prayer, praise, thanksgiving, all must have 
the stamp of sincerity to make the service ac- 
ceptable, whether in form or extempore. A 
man may be sincere while saying mass ; and 
insincere, when pouring forth extempore pray- 
er; but he is most likely to be sincere in extem- 
pore prayer. There are two kinds of form of 
prayer ; one read immediately, and the other 
learned by heart : The Church of England use 
the former ; some other churches the latter.* 
Sheridan, in his art of reading, prefers that of 
committing to memory, as having more the ap- 
pearance of devotion and sincerity. Calmet tells 
you, that a form was introduced into the Jew- 
ish church in the days of the Babylonish cap- 
tivity, under the pretence of fear of some Ba- 
bylonish sentences ; that seventeen short forms 
were used ; and that Gamaliel composed an 
eighteenth, for fear that some sentence might 
be construed to favour the Christian church. 
That a form was introduced into the Christian 
church after the gifts of working miracles had 
ceased. That a council supposed the gift of 
prayer had ceased also ; and that they, finding 

* Ludo.- Discourse about set form. 



130 

themselves unable to pray, put their heads to- 
gether to remember as much as they could of 
the inspired men's prayer, some of one and 
some of another, till they got a mass-book. 

Bishop Burnet tells you, that the Common- 
Prayer-book was compiled from the service of 
two principal cathedrals in England ; no doubt 
to make the language sound more natural to 
the ear of those prejudiced in favour of the 
mass-book. 

But as inspiration has not ceased, as already 
proved, John Wesley favoured extempora- 
neous praying and preaching, as most apostolic, 
and as being the practice of the church, when 
in its most prosperous state. The homilies of 
the church saith, " God giveth a tongue, yea, 
a fiery tongue, to speak forth his praise." If 
so, what need of reading over a form or spout- 
ing prayer, after another man's direction. But 
both kind of forms suit the parson who is often 
at parties, and minding the fashions of the world, 
and its politics ; but who is never in close com- 
munion with God in secret ; who performs for 
hire, and that only ; and who will tell his hear- 
ers, if there is such a thing as sanctification, he 
knows nothing of it ; or that he commits sin 
enough in one prayer, to send a thousand souls 



131 

to hell 1 But that still he is sure of heaven, for 
he has the right of it : his theory ! his theory ! 
He is one of the elect! He, before the founda- 
tion of the world, was given personally to 
Christ in a covenant of grace ! Or received 
his order in succession from the apostles ! All 
this, and all such, is but as the sounding brass 
and tinkling cymbal — without sincerity all is 
vanity. One grain of sincerity is better than 
a thousand talents of such boasted imagery, 
which fluttereth in the brain of vain men. — 
Sincerity must be sought after, and obtained, 
or there is no assurance of our acceptance with 
God, or hope of a blessed immortality. We 
must know that we are sincere in what we do 
for Christ. Therefore, the mark of sincerity 
must be sought after, and sought often, while in 
this state of trial. I dare not say the marks 
are many ; but, with Baxter, they are few ; and 
need more earnest heed to be taken, lest we 
should not have them ; and in this important 
point be found wanting, when weighed in the 
balances. 

God respecteth not the person of man ; but 
his character, his general and particular cha- 
racter, is regarded by the Judge ; and re- 
warded or punished accordingly. Therefore it 



132 

is not the Rector nor the Curate, nor the Bi- 
shop, nor the Deacon ; but the sincere peni- 
tent, the truly justified the happy adopted, 
the holy sanctified, who, with perseverance, 
shall find eternal justification, when God shall 
wipe away all tears, and Christ shall say, 
" Well done, good and faithful servant, enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
tion of the world.'' 

But it has been a point of controversy in 
the church, since the time of Austin and Pros- 
per, whether all those who were regenerated 
by grace would infallibly persevere ? Some 
have gone so far as to assert all who were 
the subjects of grace were sure of heaven ; 
and that they would always be found obedient 
to that heavenly calling ; being elected to life 
they would never decline, nor could forfeit it. 
Others are of opinion, that they might fall into 
foul crimes ; but that God had engaged himself 
to bring them back before they die, so as that 
they shall be saved finally, let their crimes be 
ever so great, or ever so many. 

John Wesley even opposed both these opin- 
ions, as not deducible from Scripture, and not 



133 

safe to be received ; and so does our church in 
general. 

He insisted, that a high circle attained, must 
be kept ; that as an excuse might be taken 
from a child, which would not be from a man 
of riper years and better judgment ; so to 
whom much is given, much is certainly re- 
quired. And that which is winked at in a per- 
son newly come to the faith ; partially instruct- 
ed and partially experienced ; will not be over- 
looked in one well instructed, and deeply ex- 
perienced. Every degree obtained must be 
kept; for, " if any man draw back, my soul 
shall have no pleasure in him. 

Henry's comment on Judg. chap. ii. 3. is, 
" Those that approach sin are justly left 
to fall into sin, and to perish in them. God 
often makes sin their punishment ; and thorns 
and snares are in the way of the froward, 
who are contrary to God." This some will con- 
sent to ; and still contend for the certain per- 
severance of all such as have tasted that the 
Lord is gracious ; and that they ever after 
have a title to heaven, though they may not have 
a qualification for it. Our church believes that 
a backslider hath neither a title to, nor qua- 
lification for heaven. Therefore our Lord's 
12 



134 

caution should sink deeply into our minds, 
" Remember Lot's wife." The parable of the 
insolvent debtor had weight with Wesley and 
his followers. " He who, when forgiven seven 
hundred and fifty dollars or thereabouts, found 
his fellow-servant, who owed him about four- 
teen cents, fell on him, thrust him into prison, 
&c. His Lord, being told of his Wickedness; 
called him, upbraided him, and cast him into 
prison. " So shall my heavenly Father do unto 
you, if ye from your heart forgive not every 
one his brother their trespasses." There is 
much left in Scripture to show, that no state 
of such perfection is attainable in this life, 
from which a person may not apostatize. 
Though several denominations think and teach 
the reverse. I have carefully read them all, 
from time to time, for thirty years, and have 
heard much of their controversy; but I serious- 
ly profess I have not seen any thing, nor heard 
any thing, that has appeared even to lean in 
favour of such an opinion. 

" We can no more from God depart, 
When we can sin no more." 

I have desired that one text of Scripture 
might be brought, without comment or infer- 



135 

ence, to prove the point, (of certain and final 
perseverance) in vain. Therefore, I must 
think, with Richard Baxter, of happy memory, 
in his direction to prevent blacksliding — " The 
very controversy about the doctrine of final 
perseverance is sufficient to forbid trusting in 
it. Till Augustine's time, it is hard to find an 
ancient writer that clearly asserted the certain 
perseverance of any at all. Augustine and 
Prosper maintained the certain perseverance 
of all the elect; but denied the certain perse- 
verance of all the regenerated. — For they 
thought more were regenerated than were 
elected, of whom some stood, (even all the 
elect) and the rest fell away. I affirm that I 
never read one ancient Father, or Christian 
writer, that maintained the certain or final 
perseverance of all the justified, for many 
hundreds, if not a thousand years, after Christ. 
Therefore, a doctrine, that to the church was 
so long unknown, hath not that certainty, or 
that necessity, to encourage any to presump- 
tion or security. The church was saved 
many hundred years without believing it. 

"Grace is not a thing, the nature of which 
cannot be lost. For, first, it is a separated 



136 

quality. Secondly, Adam lost it. Thirdly, 
we lose it but too easy. Whoever falls to se- 
curity and sin, falls away from grace ; and do 
show, that God never decreed that you should 
never fall away. Grace is not natural to us ; 
to love our ease, honour, and friends, is na- 
tural. But to love Christ, and his holy ways, 
is not natural. Grace is, as it were, a stranger. 
Grace dwelleth in hearts where the remains of 
the carnal mind is not present; where self- 
mortification is not pleasant. The Canaanites, 
and Jebusites, are always ready to rise. Our 
garrison is not free from danger ; — Therefore, 
let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall." 

No Christian writer has had more cause to 
search the Fathers and ancient Christian wri- 
ters, than Baxter. He was opposed by the 
Papists, by the established Church of England, 
and by the followers of St. Augustine, what is 
now called New-divinity. Every sentence 
was critically and censoriously examined. — Of 
course he must have read all he could. He 
was learned, therefore, read all he could. 
His works are all margined and interlined with 
Latin and Greek authors. He said he never 
read a Christian Father that maintained the 
certain oriinal perseverance of all the justified, 



137 

for many hundred years after Christ ! Then 
he clears St. Paul from writing on that subject, 
or in favour of it ! He tells us St. Augus- 
tine and Prosper held and taught reprobation 
and final perseverance. — So Calvin improved 
upon it ; the Hopkinsians have improved upon 
him ; and the Universalists have improved upon 
them all. Who will go to mending next, is 
not for me to tell. But all such improvements 
increase infidelity, and set up a standard for 
licentiousness, as did Popish works of supere- 
rogation ; image making, indigencies, extreme 
unction, and the like. All of late date. — While 
men slept, the enemy sowed bad seed. But at 
harvest all will be gathered out which causeth 
to offend. 

Take heed that no man deceive you ; for be- 
cause of these things cometh the wrath of God 
upon the children of disobedience. Therefore 
arise and depart, for this is not your rest, for 
it is polluted. Fight faithfully, lest any man 
take your crown. And as no doctrine is more 
scriptural than that taught by Wesley in his four 
volumes of Sermons, with his notes on the Tes- 
tament, I recommend you to make them the 
study of your lives ; and practise the precepts, 
that you may enjoy the blessing of the gospel 



12 



138 

of peace ; for not the hearer, but the doer of 
the law of Christ shall be blessed. To live 
for Christ, as well as from him, and that daily, 
is what we are taught ; and, although every 
departure from that rule is not to be called a 
total apostacy, yet every known sin, surely 
tends that way, to entangle and impede the 
Christian progress which was begun by the 
Holy Ghost in the soul; and, if overcome at 
last thereby, the last state of such an one is 
worse than the first ! Twice dead ; soon to be 
plucked up by the roots. — It is not for any one 
to say how many sins will cause the Holy Spi- 
rit to leave, or give up the backslider, no more 
than how many tears of penitential sorrow must 
be shed before we are forgiven ; yet every 
sigh of the penitent brings him nearer the hap- 
py time of his espousal ; so every neglect of 
duty, every touch of sin, says to God, depart 
from me, I am weary of thy way. There is 
no respect of persons with God ; converted, or 
unconverted, may grieve him, and cause him 
at last to give the sinner up. Therefore we 
are to mind the direction of the Holy Spirit 
in the word of truth, and frequently present 
ourselves before God in secret, in public, and 
in all the means of grace instituted or pruden- 



139 

tial, in order that there may be no consumption 
in our souls ; but a growth, a continual growth 
in knowledge, in zeal, in love, in peace, in joy, 
and faith. — So that it may not be said of us, as 
of backsliding Israel, " Ye have not called upon 
me, O Jacob ; thou hast been weary of me, O 
Israel. I have not heard thy request so often 
as formerly I did." 

The old way, my children and friends, is the 
good way, and the safe way ; and as it is made 
to shine in the doctrines you are pointed to, I 
beseech you by the mercies of God walk in it. 
It is a pleasant and honourable way; it is 
Christ's own way, and sure to bring you to a 
glorious end. I go the way of all the earth ; 
my body to the grave, in hope of a glorious 
resurrection ; when Christ, who is my life, shall 
appear, I hope to appear with him; there I 
shall meet my children, and you, my reader, 
to hear the sentence of go, or come, with the 
reason for either. If the light is refused, and 
darkness preferred, there can be no reason 
offered, why darkness should not be your ever- 
lasting abode. Ai^l if the service of sin should 
be preferred before the service of righteous- 
ness, what objection to ever being shut up with 
the author of sin and disobedience : so that 



140 

the last impenitent sinner may be with the first* 
The devil sinned from the beginning. Jesus 
Christ came into the world to destroy the works 
of the devil; but the impenitent refuseth 
Christ the opportunity to do it to him, there- 
fore takes the responsibility on himself for all 
his failure. This will cause bitter reflection 
in the mind of the condemned for ever and 
ever. For the sinner who would not, in his 
time, be reconciled to God, God will never be 
reconciled to him in his eternity. No annihila- 
tion to be expected, since atheism is found false ; 
no coming out of hell, as the doctrine of I 
will, and you shall, cannot be maintained from 
Scripture. And ye would not, is found to be 
the doctrine of the Bible. No purgatory, in- 
as much as the Pope's bull will not pass cur- 
rent now, even in this world, much less in hea- 
ven. The fog is gone ; the mist has fled from 
the part of the world you are in, and is going 
off, I believe, every where. The day will 
soon break ; God's warning voice is heard in 
many places ; his summons will follow to the 
sinner : he will say " because I called and ye 
refused, I will mock when your fear cometh." 
My friends and readers, stir up yourselves ; 
stir up the gift of the Holy Ghost in you ; work 



141 

while it is day, let no partial backsliding be in 
you, forasmuch as it tends to a total apostacy, 
with all its dreadful consequences. 



To prevent which, and to enjoy an abiding 
peace in Christ, live by the following ndes 
and instructions, 

1. Learn to have a continual eye inwardly 
to the spiritual life, as thou hast heretofore 
had all thy mind and regard to outward plea- 
sure and worldly things. 

2. Give thyself up to the discipline of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Mat. v. vi. 
vii. Resigning thyself altogether to obey him 
in all things. 

3. Keep thy memory pure from all strange 
imaginations ; and let it be filled with the vir- 
tues of Christ's life and passion, that God may 
continually rest in thy Wind. 

4. Exercise thyself to the perfect denial of 
all things which may let or impede thy union 
with Christ. Mortify in thee every thing 
which is not of God. 

5. Resist all affection to, and seeking of thy- 
self, which is so natural to men in all the gooai 



142 

which they desire to do, and in all the evil 
which they suffer. 

6. Mortify all pleasure in meat, drink, and 
vain thoughts. Vain thoughts will defile the 
soul, grieve the Holy Spirit, and do great 
damage to thy spiritual life. 

7. Imprint on thy heart Jesus crucified ; 
think on his humility, poverty, and mildness ; 
and let thy thoughts of him turn into affection, 
and thy knowledge into love. 

8. Mortify all bitterness of heart towards 
others ; and all complacency in thyself; all 
vain-glory and desire of esteem, in word and 
deed, in gifts and graces. 

9. Avoid all vain speculations on unneces- 
sary things, human or divine ; the perfect life 
of a Christian consisteth not in high notions, 
but profound meekness, in holy simplicity, and 
in the ardent love of God. 

10. Take all afflictions as tokens of God's 
love to thee and trials of love to him, and pur- 
pose of kindness to enrich thee, and increase 
more plentifully in thee his blessed gifts and 
spiritual graces. 

11. Whatsoever befalleth thee, receive it 
not as from the hand of any creature, but from 
God alone, and render back all to him, seeking 



143 

in all things his pleasure and honour, and thine 
own sanctification. 

12. Remember always the presence of God. 
Rejoicing always in the will of God. Direct- 
ing all to the glory of Him who is, and was, 
and is to come. To whom be glory, for ever 
and ever. Amen and Amen. 



THE END. 



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